Yvania Garcia-Pusateri has engaged in higher education diversity work for over a decade. But the former executive director of multicultural programs at Missouri State University just transitioned to a new role in K-12 education, serving as the first chief equity and diversity officer for Springfield Public Schools, Missouri’s largest school district.
“The leadership and expertise that she brings to this new role will be critical to building learning and working environments that are more inclusive for all, while also bridging the achievement gap for our under-resourced and under-represented students,” Dr. John Jungmann, superintendent of Springfield Public Schools, said in a statement. “Yvania will have full support from our system as she leads this important work.”
Garcia-Pusateri worked as the assistant director of diversity affairs and coordinator of diverse student development at Miami University in Ohio before joining Missouri State University in 2016.
In addition to her new role, she’s currently pursuing her doctorate in educational leadership at Miami University, which she hopes to finish in the fall. Her dissertation focuses on how Latinx students navigate campus life.
Garcia-Pusateri grew up the daughter of immigrant parents in Los Angeles and is the oldest of five children. She was the first in her family to go to college, and her education meant a lot to her parents.
“Their dreams were put on me,” she said.
But going to college meant “kind of navigating my own education,” she added. Even though her parents were “great support,” her family couldn’t help her pick classes or a major or tell her what to expect from her new life on campus.
