Biography

Boston College's efforts to expand access for underrepresented groups predate a dedicated compliance office. In February 1968, President Michael P. Walsh, SJ, established the Black Talent Search, later the Black Talent Program, with a $100,000 scholarship fund. That program evolved into today’s Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center.

In September 1971, the University created the Office of Affirmative Action and charged it with developing a plan to provide equal opportunity in employment and education. Dr. Alice Jeghelian was appointed director. The Board of Trustees approved her affirmative action program early in 1973. That spring, on the recommendation of President W. Seavey Joyce, SJ's Committee on the Role of Women, she was also named special assistant to the president for affirmative action. The office reported to the president, and Jeghelian served as the University's coordinator for Title IX compliance.

An Affirmative Action Council was created to advise the director. The director initially chaired the council. That arrangement was later discontinued so the council could set its own agenda and priorities, and the director became an ex officio member. The office began publishing a newsletter in 1974. In 1982, Jeghelian chaired the committee that drafted the University's first policy on discriminatory harassment. In 1984, a council committee she chaired proposed an on-campus child care center; the Boston College Children's Center opened in 1988. In 1985, the office was realigned under Human Resources. Jeghelian became director of professional development, and Richard P. Jefferson was named director of affirmative action in January 1986. That year, the council shifted its focus from the hiring issues of the 1970s toward policy recommendations. In 1988, the director of affirmative action was formally placed under the newly created Office of the Vice President for Human Resources.

In 1988, President J. Donald Monan, SJ, appointed a 12-member committee on the recruitment of persons of color. In 1989, he stated that primary responsibility for diverse candidate pools rested with Human Resources and hiring managers. Under that arrangement, the office's role was to recommend recruitment strategies and provide consultation, training and orientation. Barbara Marshall was named director in January 1989 and reported to the vice president for human resources. By 1991, the office had developed affirmative action plans for persons with disabilities and for veterans with disabilities and Vietnam-era veterans. The University Affiliates Program, a yearlong leadership seminar for AHANA staff, began in 1999.

Jefferson returned to lead the office by the 2003-04 academic year. In spring 2004, the University restructured the office as the Office for Institutional Diversity. Its mission broadened from affirmative action compliance to diversity and inclusion across the University community. Jefferson served as executive director until his retirement in 2015. Patricia Lowe, an attorney and senior human resources officer, became interim executive director Nov. 1, 2015, and was later named executive director. OID began issuing an annual report in 2017.

By 2025, the office's functions had been realigned within the Office of the Vice President for Human Resources. Today, the office is headed by an associate vice president who serves as the University's Title IX and ADA coordinator. The associate vice president coordinates the University's compliance with federal and state nondiscrimination laws under its Notice of Nondiscrimination and oversees the additional Title IX coordinators in Student Affairs, the University harassment counselor and Athletics.

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