Bernadette Tiapo

Tiapo joined from SUNY Potsdam, where she was associate vice president and chief diversity officer since 2016. Prior to that, she held the position of director of the Office of Institutional Diversity at the University of Saint Francis in Joliet, Ill. She also was SUNY Oneonta’s director of student multicultural affairs from 2008 to 2014.

As chief diversity officer, Tiapo leads the evolution, implementation and ongoing assessment of SUNY Oneonta’s strategic planning for diversity and inclusion. Among her responsibilities are advocacy for inclusive excellence as relevant to all academic fields, promotion of inclusive excellence in teaching and learning across the institution, and collaboration with senior administrators to develop the organizational infrastructure for equity, diversity and inclusion.

Tiapo earned a Ph.D. in education and an M.A. in mass communication and public relations from North Dakota State University, and a B.A. in English modern letters from the University of Yaounde in Cameroon. She is a member of the St. Lawrence University Women Leadership Institute Networking Committee, advises the management team of the SeedGiveBack Charity Foundation, and serves as a peer reviewer for National Association for Multicultural Education conference papers and presentations.