Executive Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion announcement

April 11, 2024

Dear Wolf Pack Family,

I am extremely pleased to announce that Dr. Melanie Duckworth, a longtime faculty member whose distinguished career has featured a significant commitment to the mission of diversity and inclusion on our campus, has been appointed the University’s Executive Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Dr. Duckworth, who has been a member of our faculty for more than two decades and has served across a number of administrative roles, including her current roles as an Associate Dean in the College of Science and interim chair of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Science in the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources, begins her appointment on June 1, 2024.

Dr. Duckworth’s professional and personal experiences as well as her notable record of achievement provides her a unique perspective to serve as our senior strategist in guiding diversity, equity, inclusion and access initiatives at our institution. Her career has been one that has emphasized campuswide collaboration, research-based actions, and, equally important, a personal commitment to DEIA that throughout her life has made her an agent of change.

In addition to her most recent role as Associate Dean of the College of Science, where she has supported the academic success and career readiness of undergraduate and graduate students in the college, Dr. Duckworth is also the co-Principal Investigator for the NIH-funded MARC (Maximizing Access to Research Careers) Nevada program, director of the longstanding and highly successful Women in Science and Engineering (WiSE) program, director of the U.S. Department of Education-funded Women in STEM program, and co-director of Nevada Teach, another University initiative that permits students to obtain a secondary education and STEM degree in four years.

Dr. Duckworth has either chaired or played key leadership roles in a number of campus efforts that have furthered our DEIA mission. She has served as chair of the Faculty Diversity Committee, co-chair of the Climate Study Working Group, and was Associate Dean for Diversity and Inclusion for the College of Liberal Arts. Her work with the Faculty Diversity Committee included working collaboratively with members of the campus community with a full array of cultural identities which in turn led to a strategic plan that stressed cultural awareness, competency and engagement in a number of key faculty areas.

Beginning her career at the University in 2002 in the Department of Psychology, Dr. Duckworth performed the teaching, research and service roles of an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology Clinical Training Program. As research director for the Health Risk and Traumatic Injury Research Program, she conducted and advised graduate and undergraduate students in the conduct of laboratory-based and clinical research examining post-injury physical and psychological recovery and health risk behaviors. Dr. Duckworth has a record of research production and dissemination that includes peer-reviewed journal articles, a co-edited special journal issue, co-edited books, invited book chapters, and national and regional conference presentations.

I invite you to listen to our most recent episode of the Sagebrushers podcast where I had an opportunity to speak to Dr. Duckworth about this new role.

With this appointment, I believe the University is poised to even more fully embrace our commitment to DEIA and foster partnerships both on our campus and in the community that will champion the value of inclusive excellence at the state’s flagship institution of higher learning. Please join me in welcoming Dr. Duckworth to her new position.

Go Pack!

Sincere regards,

Brian Sandoval
President