Dr. Mary J. Wardell-Ghirarduzzi, vice provost and chief diversity officer at University of San Francisco has a deep knowledge of the higher education landscape in California. Her storied 28-year career of equity work in California stretches from Otis College of Art and Design to California State University at San Marcos.
Her California career has now taken another step, with her appointment as inaugural vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) at the University of the Pacific, effective July 1.
The role of Pacific’s DEI vice president was created by Pacific President Dr. Christopher Callahan, who joined the school on July 1, 2020. Wardell-Ghirarduzzi’s role will be a cabinet-level position where she will report directly to him.
“When I got here this summer, and of course it was this summer, it was in the middle of this reawakening, if you will, of social injustice issues across America,” Callahan said. “So the timing seemed perfect. So I actually on that first day, July 1, I spent the whole day talking to different stakeholder groups, students, faculty, staff, alumni about DEI and how that intersects here at Pacific and how it manifests itself at Pacific.”
When Wardell-Ghirarduzzi steps into the role this summer, one of her first goals, she says, is to listen, particularly to minoritized communities.
“I really want to make sure that I’m spending additional time with those communities,” she said. “Because often times, I find that they are able to name realities that sometimes are not noticed and they have a history of often times telling the difficult truths that we often times may not want to hear.”
An accomplished educator, Wardell-Ghirarduzzi currently serves as the president of the San Francisco Public Library Commission, overseeing a system that includes 28 public libraries throughout San Francisco. She is also an affiliate faculty member at the USC Race and Equity Center and president of the northern California chapter of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education.
