Dia Draper Named Tuck Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Effective September 1, Dia Draper will become the first Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the Tuck School.

Reporting to Dean Slaughter, Draper will assess Tuck’s approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion; she will work with teams across the school to develop recommendations in support of the school’s desire to improve in these areas of strategic importance—areas that include race, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity, nationality, and socioeconomic status. She will oversee and direct Tuck’s forthcoming annual DEI report, facilitating the setting of goals and the benchmarking of progress.

Partnering with the deans and senior school officials, Draper will be involved in the decision-making, evaluation, and refinement of Tuck programs, policies, resources, and communications—all helping to ensure the inclusion of underrepresented perspectives across the school’s offerings and settings. She will work with the Deans’ Office for faculty and student recruiting and with Talent Management for staff recruiting, and she will direct training and coaching at Tuck to mitigate bias and better develop DEI competencies.

“Central to driving organizational performance is diversity. Greater diversity contributes to greater innovation, productivity, and overall employee engagement and commitment. Even more important than this business case for diversity is its moral imperative,” wrote Slaughter in a letter to the community. “Our world continues to be plagued with systemic racism, with gender discrimination, and with other political and social structures that constrain far too many people from flourishing in their work and in their lives. Leaders have a responsibility to raise people up by helping take these structures down.”

With extensive knowledge and experience leading diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in the Dartmouth College and Upper Valley communities, Draper is uniquely suited to help advance and strengthen critical efforts with Tuck students, faculty, staff, and alumni. Draper began her career at Dartmouth in 2006 in the Tuck Admissions office, where she spearheaded the school’s diversity recruiting efforts and oversaw the Tuck Diversity Conference. In 2012, she moved from Tuck Admissions to the MBA Program Office, rising to become the director of strategic initiatives. Since 2014, Draper has also served the College’s Office of Pluralism and Leadership, Student Affairs Division, where she advanced to the appointment of senior associate dean and director. When her appointment begins on September 1, Draper will start to transition away from her undergraduate dean role to return to Tuck full time.

“This new role and appointment are among the many steps we at Tuck are taking to enhance our vibrant, welcoming community,” says Slaughter. “We continue to work with student leaders, faculty, staff, and alumni to explore areas for growth. In the weeks ahead, we deans will share more about our diversity, equity, and inclusion plans—the steps we have already taken, our commitments and endeavors for the future, and accountability measures. Dean Dia Draper will play a seminal role in guiding our community in this vital work.”