Douglas Haynes, UCI vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion
““The Black Thriving Initiative is very specific because we want to create a culture where Black people thrive by mobilizing a whole university response,” says Doug Haynes, vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion and a professor of history at UCI, as he discusses the initiative one year later and all that has been accomplished. Steve Zylius/UCI

Irvine, Calif., June 26, 2019 — Douglas M. Haynes, Ph.D., has been appointed the inaugural vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion at the University of California, Irvine, effective June 1. As the campus’s chief diversity officer, the vice chancellor leads UCI’s quest to be a national model of inclusive excellence for its nearly 30,000 undergraduates, 7,000 graduate students, and 16,500 faculty and staff.

Formerly vice provost for academic equity, diversity and inclusion, Haynes oversaw creation of the Office of Inclusive Excellence in 2016 and worked with faculty, graduate student, undergraduate and staff leaders to improve the capacity for diversity and gender equity campuswide. Haynes spearheaded UCI’s successful push to earn federal designations as a Hispanic-serving institution and an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institution. And in launching the Confronting Extremism initiative, he harnessed the research, teaching and service missions of the university to promote the principles of inclusive excellence and free speech across UCI and in the community.

“Doug Haynes has already enriched UCI as vice provost with his commitment to recognizing that true excellence honors diversity through not only education and acceptance, but also affirmation,” said Chancellor Howard Gillman. “I have every confidence that as vice chancellor, Doug will continue to elevate the Office of Inclusive Excellence and advance diversity and inclusion as fundamental to the objectives of the university.”

The vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion serves as UCI’s senior executive responsible for providing a holistic and integrated vision for all major equity, diversity and inclusion activities on campus and at UCI Health. Haynes will lead a comprehensive effort to conceptualize, define, assess and cultivate inclusive excellence as an ongoing institutional value and educational asset. Organized into four domains, the responsibilities of the Office of Inclusive Excellence are campus accountability (recruitment, participation and climate), education and training (cultural competency and bias prevention), responsive research (organizational learning and reporting), and strategic initiatives and collaborations (building community as a regional, national and global partner).

In addition, the office provides a variety of additional programming and resources to support an inclusive learning and working culture at UCI. Also director of the university’s ADVANCE program – which received the institutional Equity Award from the American Historical Association – Haynes has successfully partnered with school and divisional deans to advance faculty, graduate student and undergraduate diversity in academic units.

“It’s a privilege to serve UCI in this leadership role,” he said. “There is tremendous momentum in realizing our campus aspiration to be a national leader of inclusive excellence.

I look forward to working with faculty, graduate students, undergraduates, alumni/alumnae and staff to build and sustain a campus community where all expect equity, support diversity, practice inclusion and honor free speech.”

A professor of history, Haynes joined the UCI faculty in 1994. He has published extensively on the history of medicine and science and was founding director of the Center for Medical Humanities. Haynes was a founding faculty member of the Department of African American Studies and later served as inaugural director of the Program in Global Cultures. A native of San Francisco, he earned a bachelor’s degree in history at Pomona College and a Ph.D. in modern European history at UC Berkeley.

UCI’s Academic Senate honored Haynes with the Distinguished Mid-Career Faculty Award for Service, and he has also been recognized by the Black Faculty and Staff Association for faculty outreach.

About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UCI is the youngest member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UCI has more than 36,000 students and offers 222 degree programs. It’s located in one of the world’s safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County’s second-largest employer, contributing $5 billion annually to the local economy. For more on UCI, visit www.uci.edu.

Media access: Radio programs/stations may, for a fee, use an on-campus ISDN line to interview UCI faculty and experts, subject to availability and university approval. For more UCI news, visit wp.communications.uci.edu. Additional resources for journalists may be found at communications.uci.edu/for-journalists.