I am proud to share that Rosalie Rodriguez has accepted the position of Chief Diversity Officer at Colorado College, effective August 1. In this Cabinet-level position, Rosalie will champion the college’s commitment to antiracism, strategizing with cabinet and me to ensure a cohesive institutional approach to ADEI that embeds equity practices into college operations. She will coordinate leadership for diversity issues across the college, evaluate and assess ADEI efforts, and strategically align programming and resources to maximize impact for the CC community.
Rosalie came to CC in 2020 and has held numerous leadership roles as part of the ADEI Team, most recently as Associate Vice President for Institutional Equity and Belonging.
She was integral in designing and implementing the college’s ADEI Strategic Plan and Antiracism Implementation Plan, and her efforts helped CC earn the 2023 Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award — a national honor that recognizes institutions with an outstanding commitment to diversity and inclusion. She led the creation of the HAVEN Initiative, a program CC launched in 2023 to provide a pathway for transfer students from states with anti-ADEI legislation.
Prior to CC, Rodriguez served as Director of Multicultural Services at Bucknell University and Special Assistant to the President for Diversity & Inclusion at Juniata College, which also earned a HEED Award in 2015. In those roles, Rosalie developed initiatives directly impacting recruitment and retention of marginalized students, hiring practices, bias response, faculty and staff professional development, strategic planning, and taught courses on power and privilege, and community development.
Rosalie’s work has had impact regionally and nationally. She has served in leadership of higher education equity organizations and presented on her research and work to address food insecurity on college campuses, peer mentoring best practices, and the need for “radical” self-care for activists and educators of color and in LGBTQIA+ communities, for whom mainstream self-care narratives are often limiting. She holds a B.S. in biology and communication from Juniata College and a M.A. in community psychology and social change from Penn State Harrisburg.
I’d like to thank Vice President and Director of Athletics Lesley Irvine, who chaired this nationwide search, and the members of the search committee (Lacy Karpilo, Sara Rotunno, Alex Dominguez, Rotimi Ariyom and Juan Miguel Arias) for their time and intentionality over the last three months.
“Rosalie stood out amongst a very competitive national pool of ADEI leaders,” Irvine says. “She is extremely passionate about Colorado College, deeply understands the journey and work to date and demonstrated she is ready and eager to step in to this role. She brings deep expertise in ADEI work both on college campuses and in her academic research. She also has a wealth of institutional knowledge — and the college will benefit from the thoughtful relationships she has built with students, faculty, and staff over the last four years.”
“I am absolutely honored to lead the next evolution of ADEI work at Colorado College,” Rodriguez says. “The commitment and community at CC have renewed my sense of purpose and strengthened my belief that transformational change is possible.”
In this role, Rosalie will be an advocate, accountability partner, and educational resource. Her position will be housed in the Office of Institutional Equity and Belonging, and she will build out her own staff to support the college’s ADEI priorities.
Importantly, the work of creating a diverse and equitable institution cannot and will not fall to a single leader — becoming an antiracist community requires that we all center ADEI practices in our daily work and relationships. Thank you for sharing this commitment.
I am delighted to have Rosalie’s leadership, perspective, and vision as part of cabinet and the CC community. Please join me in welcoming her to this new role!
