Nicole Butts has been named presidential associate for inclusive excellence and diversity. In this essential leadership role, Butts will report directly to university President Soraya M. Coley and serve as a member of her cabinet.
Cal Poly Pomona’s institutional excellence is fundamentally linked to its inclusive excellence. Butts will work across divisions to leverage and build upon the successes already achieved. She has served as the interim presidential associate since November 2019. As Cal Poly Pomona’s senior administrator responsible for facilitating the advancement of diversity and inclusivity, Butts will support divisional leaders in the design and implementation of campus plans to enhance inclusion, develop training initiatives, and work with stakeholders in the colleges and divisions to recruit, retain, and advance excellence across campus.
In her short tenure at CPP, Butts has already helped achieve progress in diversity and inclusion efforts, which also addresses the feedback from the recent WSCUC accreditation team last fall. She also developed and launched the university’s Inclusive Excellence Council. Consisting of faculty, staff and students, the council serves as an advisory body charged with upholding and promoting the university’s value of inclusivity as delineated in its Strategic Plan. She is also finalizing the creation of our Campus Climate Response Team (Inclusive CPP) and overseeing the launch of a campus-wide climate survey. She has played a key role in supporting Academic Affairs in its Faculty Success Initiative.
Butts brings nearly two decades of working in organizational development management in both the public and private sectors, including higher education, with a particular focus on promoting diversity and inclusion and ensuring that best practices, both within and outside higher education, are brought to bear. Prior to Cal Poly Pomona, she served as human resources director for equal employment and affirmative action at UC Riverside. Butts holds a bachelor’s degree from Howard University and a master’s degree from Bowie State University, along with numerous professional certifications.