August 29, 2022 – Richland Community College has hired Jennifer Reichart to be their new Executive Director of Diversity, Inclusion, Equity, and Belonging (DIEB). Reichart will start in this newly created position on September 26.
Richland president, Cris Valdez, said, “Richland has been working towards DIEB efforts for the last 6 years. In that time, we have seen significant gains in enrollment with students of color, which has been instrumental in our mission to produce a more diverse workforce. With her skillset and experience in education, Ms. Reichart will further bring this vision to reality.”
Reichart is an experienced DIEB leader in higher education with a focus on supporting community college faculty, staff, and students. She has worked in higher education as a staff member, faculty member, and senior-level administrator for the past fifteen years. In her most recent position as Faculty Development Specialist and Inclusion Ambassador in the Teaching Transformation and Development Academy at the University of North Dakota, she coordinated large-scale DIEB initiatives such as book studies, faculty institutes, panel discussions, and symposia. She is an expert in trauma-informed instruction, faculty and student self-care practices, and emotional intelligence in higher education.
“I am thrilled to be joining Richland Community College during its 50th year! This is a challenging yet exciting time for community colleges to embrace innovation and reinvent themselves, and a tour of Richland’s remarkably renovated campus reflects their growth mindset,” Reichart said. “Richland has made great strides in the areas of diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging, and this has positioned us well to become an exemplary institution. My goal is to bring my innovation, passion, and service here to assist in this endeavor and support President Valdez’s mission for a more inclusive campus.”
A native of central Illinois, Reichart said this is the perfect opportunity for her to return. She told us, “I’m excited to get back to my home state of Illinois, my friends, family, and especially my parents. I’m also ecstatic that I won’t be living in sub-artic temperatures. I’m moving from Grand Forks, North Dakota, which has the coldest average temperatures of any city in the contiguous United States, so the comparative warmth of the winter season is incredibly attractive to me.”
