Growing up in a mixed-race household, Dr. Nathan Carter knows what it’s like to have hard conversations about race. With White friends, he faced stereotypes about what it meant to be Black. With Black friends, he heard assumptions about what it meant to be White.
“It forced me to really navigate,” Carter said. “How do I engage with this person? I see value in building a relationship here with this individual, but their understanding of race or culture or who I am doesn’t speak to my experience, and what do I do about that?”
Now Carter brings those years of engaging across difference to his new role as Northern Virginia Community College’s first chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer.
The college’s president, Dr. Anne M. Kress praised his “significant academic, research and work experience.”
“His passion and leadership will support NOVA in providing equity in opportunity for our students and a welcoming and inclusive learning and working environment for the full diversity of our community,” Kress said in a statement.
Carter earned his Ph.D. in intercultural communication at Howard University, a master’s degree in communication studies from California State University, Northridge and a bachelor’s degree from the University of the Pacific.
He was formerly the interim associate dean of social sciences for Northern Virginia Community College’s Alexandria campus and served as a research analyst under the superintendent of public instruction at the Virginia Department of Education before joining the college in fall 2012.
