Raymond Plaza, Ph.D.
Director, Office for Diversity and Inclusion
As the ODI Director, Raymond (Ray) is responsible for day-to-day activities that include working closely with the Associate Provost for Diversity and Inclusion to design strategies for the recruitment and retention of faculty from underrepresented groups. He also has working relationships with Human Resources (developing initiatives aimed at increasing the diversity and retention of University staff), the Office for Student Life (in partnerships and efforts in working with students) and the Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Development (planning for diversity training and leadership initiatives focused on faculty and staff and aimed at building cultural competence and intergroup dialogues). He also coordinates the Safe Space training for faculty and staff, and facilitates the UndocuAlly training as part of his service on the Undocumented Student Working Group. He also works closely with the Title IX and Affirmative Action officer to implement the University's Affirmative Action program, and he helps to maintain and fortify the University's in partnership with Institutional Research.
Prior to Santa Clara, Raymond worked at Bowling Green State University where he served as the Associate Director, Multicultural Affairs, where he was responsible for retention initiatives, Latino success, and the assessment and management of data. He coordinated the bi-annual climate assessment survey at Bowling Green, chaired the Latino Issues Conference, facilitated Safe Zone workshops, and served as the liaison to the Latino Student Union, Hillel, and the Chinese Student and Scholars Association. In addition to those responsibilities, he was active as a liaison between the university and the Bowling Green community in the national Not In Our Town movement. Raymond also spent more than a dozen years at Virginia Tech working in student affairs, multicultural affairs and academic affairs.
Raymond is a Miami native who earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in both English and History from the University of Florida in Gainesville, where he also earned a Master of Arts in Education, Student Personnel in Higher Education. He earned his Doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech).
Raymond is also active within ACPA College Student Educators International where he completed his service as the Convention Chair for ACPA18 annual convention and served as Past Chair of the Latin@/x Network. He is currently on the ACPA External Advisory Board and in 2020 was appoined as one of the two ACPA representations to the Council on the Advancement of Standards (CAS). In addition, he is currently the Chair of the AJCU Conference on Diversity and Equity. In May 2019, Ray was appointed to serve on the National Advisory Council for the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE).
(408) 551-3383
rplaza@scu.edu