Colorado College has added a new member to its diversity, equity, and inclusion leadership team. After a comprehensive national search, the college hired Eric E. Lee, Ph.D. as the assistant vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion for staff and administrative operations, a new position at the college. He began working for CC part-time in September and transitioned to full-time in October.
In 2018, Colorado College made a commitment to become an antiracist institution. CC’s antiracist commitment means establishing greater equity and inclusion for all students, staff, and faculty; removing racist and discriminatory policies, processes, and procedures; and providing every person the opportunities and resources to create a fairer and more justice-oriented place to learn, live, and work. With antiracism central to the college’s mission, the goal is that all faculty, staff, and students will feel welcomed and valued; teaching will become more impactful; and students will be better prepared to make positive change in the world.
Lee says early in his professional career, he realized that his life’s mission was to facilitate marginalized people's academic, social, and professional development.
“It quickly became apparent that it's easier to grow talented people when their environments support and encourage them to be authentic,” says Lee.
He says one need only look at Colorado College’s mission statement to understand why it’s important to do this type of work.
“At Colorado College, our goal is to provide the finest liberal arts education in the country. We cannot reach and live these lofty ideals in our ever-changing world if we do not continue to recruit, develop, and retain the most talented and diverse group of students, faculty, and staff. Aligning our behaviors and operations to those ideals is critical to our future success.”
In Lee’s 20-year career, he has accumulated a unique and impressive blend of academic, corporate, and leadership experiences, including expertise developing and executing high-impact diversity and inclusion, hiring and recruitment, and retention initiatives. Lee came to CC from TEKsystems in Phoenix, Arizona, where, as manager of business operations, he implemented the diversity, equity, and inclusion plan for the Fortune 500 company and its 7,500 employees. He also conceived and executed a leadership development program tailored to identify, retain, and promote top-performing people of color throughout that organization; this program model grew to become TEKsystems’ talent pipeline for formal sales, executive, and operation leadership programs.
Lee has a doctorate of philosophy in community and human resources from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where his dissertation was “Academic Help Seeking in African-American College Populations.” In addition, he has a M.S. in social science education and a B.S. in sociology from Wayne State College in Wayne, Nebraska.
Lee joins Peony Fhagen, Ph.D., senior associate dean of equity, inclusion, and faculty development, and Rosalie Rodriguez, senior associate dean of students for diversity, equity, and inclusion/director of the Butler Center. Both joined CC and its diversity, equity, and inclusion leadership team in June 2020.