The Brown Model: Pathways to Inclusion and Belonging National Tour

Dr. Sylvia R. Carey-Butler joined Brown in July 2021 as vice president for institutional equity and diversity, overseeing the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity (OIED).

She comes to Brown with a robust background in academia, previously serving as vice president and chief diversity officer for Kennesaw State University, assistant chancellor for academic support of inclusive excellence at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, assistant provost and dean of honors at Dillard University, and associate dean of studies at Lafayette College. She also served as interim executive director of the United Negro College Fund’s (UNCF) Institute for Capacity Building and the inaugural director of UNCF’s Enrollment Management Program

At Brown University, Carey-Butler is charged with leading phase II of the Pathways to Diversity & Inclusion Action Plan (DIAP) coupled with oversight of the Brown Tougaloo Program, the Leadership Alliance, the Affirmative Action Plan, along with other key diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

A writer, artistic director, creative producer, and curator of public programs, Avery Willis Hoffman is the inaugural artistic director of the Brown Arts Institute and professor of the practice of arts and classics at Brown University. As inaugural program director at Park Avenue Armory in New York, Hoffman curated and produced innovative and diverse public programming initiatives, including numerous large- and intimate-scale cultural events. Prior to the Armory, Hoffman was a senior project developer at Ralph Appelbaum Associates where her primary project was the development of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, in Washington, D.C.

For nearly two decades, her professional career has included multiple projects with acclaimed director Peter Sellars. Hoffman earned graduate degrees in classics from University of Oxford, where she was a Marshall Scholar, and a bachelors in classics and English at Stanford University.

Dr. Elfred Anthony Pinkard served as the 22^nd president at Wilberforce University in Wilberforce, Ohio from 2018 until his retirement in 2023. That same year, he was named President-In-Residence at the Council of Independent Colleges and the HBCU Presidential Fellow at Brown. 

Prior to his appointment as president, Pinkard served as executive vice president and provost at Wilberforce. Pinkard was the founding executive director of the UNCF Institute for Capacity Building, which provides support and capacity-building assistance for 37 member institutions. In addition to his service at seven HBCUs, he has served in administrative positions at Colgate University, The College of Wooster, and California State University, Long Beach.

In addition to his work in the academy, Pinkard serves on the leadership team at the Higher Education Leadership Foundation (HELF), a leadership development organization with a focus on developing leaders for HBCUs.

An interdisciplinary scholar, Noliwe Rooks is the chair of and a professor in Africana Studies at Brown where she holds the L. Herbert Ballou University Professorship. Her work explores how race and gender both impact and are impacted by popular culture, social history, and political life in the United States. The author of four books and numerous articles, essays, and op-eds, Rooks has received research funding from the Ford Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the Woodrow Wilson School, among others. She lectures frequently at colleges and universities around the country and is a regular contributor to popular outlets such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Time Magazine, and NPR.

Rooks’ current book, in which she coined the term “segrenomics,” is “Cutting School: Privatization, Segregation, and the End of Public Education” which won an award for non-fiction from the Hurston/Wright Foundation.

Dr. Alyssia Coates is the senior director of development, inclusive philanthropic engagement at Brown. She oversees the Advancement DEI strategic plan and is responsible for the coordination and collaboration across various units within the division and with University campus partners. She is the academic advancement liaison to administrative and faculty leadership for the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity (OIED), the Centers for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America, and the Ruth J. Simmons Study of Slavery and Justice to advance the University’s campaign priorities.

Coates formerly served for 24 years at the University of Notre Dame in several leadership roles, including the regional director of development, senior leader for the enrollment management team, and professor for the College of First Year of Studies. Coates started a national early outreach recruitment model and established a Notre Dame presence across the United States to identify and recruit seventh through tenth grade students to cultivate a pipeline of highly talented students for selective colleges and universities. Coates’s administrative experience includes success in fundraising, strategic planning, staff development, grant management, organizational leadership, event planning, and stewardship.