Biography

William B. Harvey was named Vice President and Chief Officer for

Diversity and Equity at the University of Virginia in October of 2005.

Since his appointment at the University of Virginia in the new position of Vice President and Chief Officer for Diversity and Equity, William B. Harvey has initiated the U.Va. Symposium on Race and Society, the Diversity Council, the Community Resource Advisory Group and the Alumni Diversity Advisory Committee. He also serves   as Principal Investigator for the Virginia-North Carolina Alliance for Minority Participation, which is funded by a $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation. In addition, he has partnered with the Curry School of Education to launch the Walter N. Ridley Distinguished Speaker Series and with the School of Engineering to initiate the Robert A. Bland award, as well as supporting a variety of faculty and student initiatives that celebrate the rich diversity of the University. 

     From 2000-2005, Harvey was vice president and director of the Center for Advancement of Racial and Ethnic Equity at the American Council on Education (ACE) in Washington, D.C.,. Prior to that appointment, he served as dean of the School of Education and deputy chancellor for Educational Partnerships at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His career in higher education spans three decades and includes both academic and administrative appointments. During that period, he has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in education, anthropology and African-American studies at several colleges and universities, and also held positions in academic affairs, research administration and student affairs.

     Harvey’s research and scholarly activity has been focused on the cultural and social factors that affect underserved populations, with particular emphasis on college and university settings. His extensive list of publications includes books, book chapters, refereed journal articles, and professional and technical reviews.  He serves as an Executive Editor of the Negro Educational Review, a Consulting Editor of Change: The Magazine for Higher Learning, Associate Editor of Multicultural Learning and Teaching and an Editorial Board Member for the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, the Journal of the Professorate, and Effective Practices for Academic Leaders. He has been a Visiting Associate at the Smithsonian Institution, an ACE Fellow, an Institute for Educational Leadership Fellow, and a Summer Research Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. 

     After receiving a bachelor's degree in English from West Chester University, Harvey earned a master's degree in Social and Philosophical Foundations of Education and a doctoral degree in Anthropology of Education from Rutgers University. In addition to having served as chair of the Education Advisory Board of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, he is the Founding President of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education and a member of the board of the American Association for Blacks in Higher Education, the National Council for Research on Women, the Yale-Howard Partnership Center on Reducing Health Disparities, the W.E.B. DuBois Scholars Program at Princeton University and the Martin Luther King Living History and Public Policy Center.  He is a former member of the Board of Directors at Capella University, the Study of New Scholars Project at Harvard University, and the Board of Visitors of the School of Education at the University of Pittsburgh.