SUNY Board Names Dr. Pedro Cabán as Vice Provost for Diversity and Educational Equity

Albany – The State University of New York Board of Trustees today named Dr. Pedro Cabán vice provost for diversity and educational equity, effective July 15, 2007.  SUNY received $300,000 in funding from the state budget to create the Office of Diversity and Educational Equity.

 

“Dr. Cabán’s strong record of scholarship in Latina/Latino and African American studies, and his success in working with underrepresented students, makes him ideally suited to be the first leader of SUNY’s Office of Diversity and Educational Equity,” said Chancellor Ryan.  “As New York’s population becomes increasingly diverse, SUNY must ensure that an affordable, attainable higher education is available for all its citizens. Dr. Cabán is very well qualified for his new role, and we are very excited to have him join SUNY in this important role.”

 

“Congratulations are well in order for Dr. Pedro Cabán,” said Board Chairman Thomas F. Egan. “The State University of New York provides an exceptional education and we are very pleased Dr. Cabán will devote his considerable talents and skills in ensuring students have every opportunity to succeed.”

 

“Dr. Cabán is the ideal choice to lead the newly-created Office of Diversity and Educational Equity.  We look forward to expanding opportunities for all students interested in attending SUNY and thereby improving their lives,” said Provost Palm.

 

“The State University of New York’s commitment to access and opportunity for all students is most commendable,” said Dr. Cabán.  “I want to thank the Board of Trustees for placing its trust in me, as well as to thank Chancellor Ryan, Provost Palm and the search committee for their strong support.  Working together with the SUNY campuses, we can ensure access and opportunities for all those who seek to advance themselves through public higher education.”

 

Dr. Cabán will take responsibility for the Offices of Educational Opportunity Programs and SUNY Educational Opportunity Centers; supervise SUNY’s participation in the National Association of System Heads project on reducing the educational gap, and assist campuses in developing and implementing a portfolio of diversity programs and curricula that is sensitive to their mission and the communities in which they are located.

 

In addition, he will assist ongoing system-wide efforts to align campuses with their respective communities in order to assist underrepresented high school graduates with access to higher educational opportunities and a successful college experience through to graduation.  

 

Dr. Cabán received his Doctorate of Political Science and Master of Philosophy from Columbia University.  He earned a Bachelor of Arts from the City College of New York.  In addition, Dr. Cabán held important faculty and administrative positions at Cornell, Rutgers and Fordham Universities.

 

Dr. Cabán is currently full professor of Communications Research and African American Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and was the Director of the Latina/o Studies Program.

 

While at the UIUC, Dr. Cabán served on the advisory board of and was appointed faculty in residence at the Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society.  The Center promoted public engagements and academic initiatives on the benefits of racial and ethnic diversity in developing venues for the discussion of race, knowledge and power within and beyond the University. 

 

Dr. Cabán was the recipient of an Academic Leadership Program fellowship from the Consortium on Institutional Cooperation, consisting of the Big Ten Universities, the University of Chicago and Northwestern University.  During his professional career, Dr. Cabán served on five review panels for the Ford Foundation Doctoral Dissertation and Postdoctoral Minority Fellow Program.  He has served on many university and college committees that were responsible for enhancing diversity and inclusion. 

 

Dr. Cabán’s research and writing has focused on the political economy and legislative history of United States-Puerto Rico relations; Americanization, colonialism and citizenship; and the formation of the political identities of Hispanic Caribbean peoples in the Diaspora and on the Islands. 

 

For the last decade, he has been writing and lecturing on the emerging field of Latino Studies.  Dr. Cabán is currently working on an intellectual and political history of the development of race and ethnic studies as an academic field in higher education.  

 

Since 2004, as a consequence of his joint appointment in the African American Studies and Research Program at UIUC, he has broadened his teaching and research perspective on the African American experience.  He has chaired the unit’s curriculum committee and published papers that explore different dimensions of race and access to higher education.

 

Prior to his service at the UIUC, he held a visiting faculty position in Latino Studies and Government at Cornell University, where he also served as the director of Latino Studies.  He was co-director of the Center for the Critical Analysis of Contemporary Culture and served as chair of the Puerto-Rican and Hispanic Caribbean Studies Department at Rutgers University and also was a tenured faculty member of political science and Puerto Rican/Hispanic Caribbean Studies.  

 

From 1978 to1986, Dr. Cabán was a member of the Political Science Department at Fordham University, also serving as director of the Latin American and Puerto Rican Studies Program.   

 

Dr. Cabán’s nomination is the result of a national search. The position was advertised in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Insidehighered.com, and the SUNY System Administration homepage and minority organizations listings.  There were 25 applications for the position.

 

As vice provost for diversity and educational equity of the State University of New York Dr. Cabán’s salary will be $165,000.

 

The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive university system in the United States, educating more than 417,500 students in 7,669 degree and certificate programs on 64 campuses. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunity, visit www.suny.edu 

 

-30-