KU names next director of Emily Taylor Center


LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas has selected the director of Amherst College’s Multicultural Resource Center to be the next director of the Emily Taylor Center for Women & Gender Equity.

Bulaong Ramiz-Hall, who had been a program coordinator at KU’s Office of Multicultural Affairs from 2014 to 2015, will begin her new position July 15.

“We are really excited to be able to bring Bulaong back to KU,” said Precious Porras, assistant vice provost for diversity & equity and director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs. “She has developed a track record of successful, creative engagement across a broad range of interests and communities. That experience makes her an excellent choice to usher the Emily Taylor Center in additional directions that serve the KU community and the region.”

The Emily Taylor Center (ETC) director provides overall leadership and management of the center and provides service to the university community as an advocate for diversity and equity. The center has a rich history at KU. It was established in 1974, a time when women’s centers were springing up around the country to address inequities women faced in higher education. Unlike many centers that were created as a result of student activism, KU’s was established to continue the work of former KU Dean of Women Emily Taylor, the center’s namesake. Today, the center’s mission is to provide leadership and advocacy in promoting gender equity and challenge gender-related barriers, which impede full access, inclusion and success. It promotes gender equity by raising awareness of important issues related to gender and sexism, providing opportunities to translate awareness into action and empowering individuals to advocate for themselves and others. Feminism and social justice are central to the efforts of the ETC.

Ramiz-Hall has been director of the Amherst College Multicultural Resource Center since 2016 and provides overall leadership and management of the center. In that role, she also counsels and mentors students and helps develop communitywide programs that focused on racial identity, community building and intersectionality. The center collaborates with campus partners to execute a variety of programs including the Women of Color Forum, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy Symposium and the Social Justice Leadership Orientation Program.

From 2015 to 2016, Ramiz-Hall was assistant director of Student Activities and Leadership Development and New Student Orientation at Wesleyan University. The role required managing budgets, development of web-based and social media resources, and programming and workshop development.

During her time at KU, Ramiz-Hall was involved in a wide variety of activities connected to OMA as well as other campus entities. Notably, she served as liaison between KU and Haskell Indian Nations University and was a liaison to several offices on the KU campus, including the Emily Taylor Center, the Center for Sexuality & Gender Diversity, KU Athletics and the Spencer Museum of Art.

She also is a RE-Center (Race and Equity in Education) facilitator. Ramiz-Hall has a master’s degree in student development in higher education from Central Connecticut State University and a bachelor's degree in American studies from Wesleyan University. She takes over the position after the retirement of longtime ETC director Kathy Rose-Mockry.

“I am thrilled for the opportunity to return to the KU community and to further contribute to the amazing work of diversity and equity already being done,” Ramiz-Hall said. “I am excited to connect with students, staff, faculty and alumni alike to collectively forward the mission of the Emily Taylor Center and co-create a vision for gender equity at KU and beyond.”

Tue, 06/04/2019

author

Jill Hummels

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