George Mason hires chief diversity officer

Sharnnia Artis will be George Mason University’s vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion and chief diversity officer, beginning Sept. 1.

Artis currently serves as the assistant dean for access and inclusion in the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences and Samueli School of Engineering at the University of California, Irvine.

George Mason University President Gregory Washington said in a statement, “Dr. Artis will be a leader in our mission to grow and strengthen a culture of inclusion, integrity and fairness so that every member of our diverse academic community has the opportunity to thrive.”

For the past four years, Artis has served as the principal investigator of The Niela Project. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the project aims to increase the understanding of how the experiences of Black female doctoral students have an impact on their well-being and academic persistence in the computing and engineering fields.

At UC Irvine, Artis established the Stacey Nicholas Office of Access and Inclusion to lead diversity, equity, inclusion and anti-racism initiatives for the university.

Before joining UC Irvine, Artis was education and outreach director for the National Science Foundation-funded Center for Energy Efficient Electronics Science, a science and technology center at the University of California, Berkeley.

Artis holds bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in industrial and systems engineering from Virginia Tech.

She succeeds Julian Williams, who is now vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion at the University of South Carolina. Dietra Y. Trent, former Mason chief of staff and Virginia secretary of education, has served in the interim position since Williams’ departure.