Commission members

Chair Orlando Taylor, VP Research and Dean of Graduate School, Howard University Rosio Alvarez, Exec. Director/Deputy CIO, Information Technologies, UMass Amherst Eduardo Bustamante, President, Student Government Association, UMass Amherst Joyce Bylander, Associate Provost, Campus Academic Life, Dickinson College Jules Chametzky, Professor Emeritus, English Dept., UMass Amherst Martha Escobar, Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admission, UMass Amherst Sidonio Ferreira, Assistant Dean, Support Services, UMass Amherst Ruth Ellen Fitch, President and Chief Exec. Officer, Dimock Community Health Ctr. Anne Herrington, Chair, Dept. of English, UMass Amherst Frances Degen Horowitz, President, The Graduate Center, City University of New York Bailey Jackson, Assoc. Professor, School of Education, UMass Amherst James Arthur Jemison Project Manager, Mass. Port Authority, UMass Amherst Alumnus Howard Johnson, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Univ. of North Texas Earl Lewis, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Pamela Marsh-Williams, Assoc. Dean, Undergraduate Advising, UMass Amherst Ernie May, Secretary of the Faculty Senate, Prof. of Music, UMass Amherst Mathew Ouellett, Assoc. Director, Center for Teaching, UMass Amherst Robert Ringel, Prof. of Audiology and Speech Sciences, Purdue University Vanessa Rivera, Asst. Dean for Student Affairs, College of Engineering, UMass Amherst Uri Strauss, President, Graduate Student Senate, UMass Amherst Ben Swan, 11th Hampden District State Representative (Springfield, MA) Carlos Vargas-Aburto, Provost and Vice Pres. for Academic Affairs, Central State Univ. Esther Terry, Ex-Officio, Associate Chancellor for EO&D, UMass Amherst

Orlando L. Taylor is vice provost for research and dean of the graduate school at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He will chair the 22-member University of Massachusetts Commission on Campus Diversity.

Taylor has held a number of national leadership positions, including current president, Consortium of Social Science Associations; chair of the board of directors, Council of Graduate Schools; president, National Communication Association; and Advisory Council member of the Jacob Javits National Fellowship Program, U.S. Department of Education. Taylor has written extensively on a variety of communication issues, including multicultural communication and Black English, as well as various communication disorders and their assessment.

Taylor joined the Howard University faculty in 1973 as a graduate professor in the department of communication sciences and disorders, which he chaired from 1975 to 1980. In 1985, Taylor was appointed dean of the school of communications, a post he held for eight years. In 1994, he was named executive assistant to the president of Howard University, then served as the school‚s interim vice president for academic affairs until the following year.

Taylor previously taught at Indiana University, the University of the District of Columbia, and Howard University. He served as adjunct professor at the University of Pittsburgh and as a visiting professor at Stanford University. He received his bachelor of science degree in 1957 from Hampton University, his master's from Indiana University in 1960, and a Ph.D. from the in 1966. He has received honorary degrees from Purdue University, Hope College and DePauw University.

Ruth Ellen Fitch is president and chief executive officer of the Dimock Community Health Center, a health and community services agency serving the Greater Roxbury and Dorchester sections of Boston.

Prior to taking the helm of the 500-employee agency in August 2004, Fitch was a partner at Palmer & Dodge LLP, a general practice law firm in Boston. During her 21 years with the firm’s municipal law department, she was involved with a variety of complex and sensitive legal, organizational and financing transactions.

Fitch received her bachelor of arts degree in economics from Barnard College and went on to earn her Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. From 1974-80, Fitch was director of the Metropolitan Council for Education Opportunity (METCO) and Multicultural Programs in Brookline, Mass. In that role, she oversaw the operation of a state-funded voluntary education and integration program for 400 African-American students from Boston who attended the Brookline schools in grades K-12. Her duties included developing programs and support systems enabling METCO students to achieve their full academic potential.

Fitch has held leadership positions with public and community-based institutions, including director and executive committee member of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau; trustee and vice chairwoman, Roxbury Community College board of trustees; chairwoman, board of directors, Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries Inc.; board of trustees of Women's Educational and Industrial Union; board of trustees of Grimes King Foundation; and member of the Boston Bar Association and Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association. At the University of Massachusetts Boston, she has taught a highly regarded black literature course to undergraduate students.

Frances Degen Horowitz, a nationally recognized educational leader and renowned developmental psychologist, is president of The Graduate Center of The City University of New York.

Horowitz came to The Graduate Center in September 1991 from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, where she was vice chancellor for research, graduate studies, and public service, and dean of the graduate school. She held that position for 13 years as part of her 30-year tenure with the university, where she played a significant role in helping create bridges between the university and major regional economic development efforts.

Highlights from a lifelong list of awards include the New York Women’s Agenda Star Award (2002), American Psychological Association’s Centennial Award for Sustained Contribution to the Science Directorate (1992), the Antioch College Rebecca Rice Alumni Award for Lifetime Achievement (1996), and a special Commendation from the New York City Comptroller’s Office (1997). She was selected for inclusion in the Encyclopedia of Jewish Women and was elected a Fellow of the New York Academy of Sciences.

Horowitz is acclaimed for her research, particularly in infant behavior and development. She is a Fellow of the Division of Developmental Psychology of the American Psychological Association. She is the author of more than 120 articles, chapters, monographs, and books on the subjects of infant development, early childhood development, high-risk infants, the gifted, and theories of development. She has been elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Horowitz attended Antioch College, graduating in 1954 with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. She earned a master’s degree in elementary education from Goucher College, and in 1959 a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the University of Iowa.

James Arthur Jemison is senior project manager in the economic planning and development division of the Massachusetts Port Authority.

Previously, he served as special assistant for planning and economic development in the office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development in the District of Columbia since 2003. He was project manager for the Office of Planning in Washington, D.C., from 2000 to 2003.

From 1998 to 2000, Jemison served as regional manager for the Roxbury neighborhood for the Boston Redevelopment Authority. He served as redevelopment manager, asset management analyst, and financial analyst for the Boston Housing Authority from 1995 to 1998. Jemison was a staff consultant with Arthur Andersen LLP, Real Estate Advisory Services in Miami, Fla., from 1994 to 1995.

Jemison earned a master of city planning, housing and community development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1994, and received a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship in Public Policy and International Affairs. He earned a bachelor’s degree in social thought and political economy from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1992.

Howard C. Johnson has been provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of North Texas since 2003. He supervises the 10 schools and colleges of the university, as well as other supporting units including continuing education, summer sessions, the library, admissions and financial aid, and academic computing. In 2002-2003, Johnson served as executive vice provost for academic affairs at Syracuse University, and from 1995 to 2001 as dean of the Graduate School at Syracuse. was member of the faculty and served in various administrative positions at Syracuse beginning in 1973. He also was professor of mathematics at the City College of Chicago from 1968 to 1973 and a mathematics teacher in Chicago from 1966 to 1968.

At both the University of North Texas and Syracuse, Johnson played a key role in creating and operating strategic academic plans and hiring top administrators.

Johnson earned his doctorate in mathematics education from Northwestern University; a master’s degree in mathematics from the University of Illinois, and a master’s degree in mathematics from Chicago State University; and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Chicago State University.

He has served in a number of professional organization leadership positions, including president of the Association of Graduate Schools; chair of the Educational Testing Services GRE Committee on Minority Graduate Education; and board member of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. He is also the co-author of many mathematics textbooks used in elementary and middle schools.

Earl Lewis has been the provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at Emory University since July 2004.

Beginning in 1998, he was vice provost for academic affairs–graduate studies, and dean of the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies at the University of Michigan and was interim dean from September 1997 to February 1998. He also served as a professor in the department of history and Center for Afro-American Studies (CAAS) at the University of Michigan beginning in 1995. Lewis was CAAS director from July 1991 to June 1993, and was interim director from July 1990 to June 1991. He served as associate professor in the department of history and CAAS at the University of Michigan from 1989-1995 and was assistant professor in the Afro-American studies department at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1985 to 1989.

Lewis earned his bachelor’s degree in history and psychology from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., in 1978, and a master’s degree in American history in 1981 and a doctorate in Afro-American history in 1984 from the .

Robert L. Ringel is professor of audiology and speech sciences and the Donald S. Powers Distinguished University Administrator on the Purdue University campus.

As the executive vice president for academic affairs at Purdue from 1991 to 2001, Ringel was responsible for the development of all aspects of the university’s academic activities. His duties included matters of academic curriculum; the recruitment and development of faculty; the operation of such academic support systems as the library, computing center and student services, and a large number of research centers and institutes.

As an executive officer of Purdue University’s statewide system, Ringel had responsibility for issues of academic concern on the university's four regional campuses and multiple extension sites. Ringel is a frequent lecturer, consultant and author on topics of contemporary importance in higher education.

In recognition of contributions to the diversification of the faculty and student body at Purdue University, programs developed under Ringel’s administration have received a number of affirmative action awards.

Ringel specializes in researching and teaching about disorders of voice, neurologically based failures of speech production, and the effects of aging on speech and voice performance. He is a certified speech pathologist and has been granted the honors and fellowship status by the American Speech-Language and Hearing Association.

He earned his bachelor of arts degree from Brooklyn College in 1959, and received his master’s and Ph.D. from Purdue. Before joining the Purdue faculty in 1966, he was a faculty member at UCLA and the University of Wisconsin.

Carlos Vargas-Aburto is provost and vice president for academic affairs at Central State University in Ohio, a position he assumed in November 2003.

He currently serves as a member of the National Science Foundation’s Advisory Committee for Business and Operations, and he is an external evaluator for the National Agency of Science and Technology in Argentina.

Previously, he worked as associate dean for research at Kent State University and director of the program on electron beam technology. Vargas-Aburto joined the Kent State faculty in 1985, teaching courses in analog and digital electronics, and the use of microprocessors and microcomputers. He also was a member of the faculty at International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy, from 1983 to 1988 and was on the faculty of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in 1971 and 1979 to 1988.

He is familiar with the University of Massachusetts Amherst, having served as an American Council on Education fellow from July 1997 to June 1998. Vargas-Aburto attended negotiation meetings between administrators and graduate and undergraduate students resulting from a building takeover, and he also attended bargaining meetings between the administration and the Graduate Employee Organization. He was also an advisor to the chancellor and a key liaison between United States and Mexican management teams developing a $60 million radio-telescope in Mexico.

Vargas-Arbuto earned his doctorate in physics and aerospace science in 1978, a master’s degrees in physics and in aerospace science in 1975 and 1974, respectively, from the University of Michigan. He received his bachelor’s degree in physics from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México in 1971.