![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/files\/2022\/12\/Leana-Amaez-6181-4x5-300dpi-720x900.webp\")
\u201cI am thrilled to welcome Leana to Bates to lead our work in equity and inclusion \u2014 work that is central to our mission and to the success and well-being of every member of our community,\u201d said Spencer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLeana comes to this role with 15 years of experience in equity and inclusion work across a range of organizations, and she brings first-hand knowledge of life and work in a residential liberal arts college. She is known for a leadership style that combines strategy, structure, and relationship building, qualities that will be invaluable as we continue to strive for sustainable progress toward greater equity and inclusiveness at Bates.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am delighted to join the Bates community,\u201d said Am\u00e1ez. \u201cI have long admired Bates for its founding commitment to liberation, justice, and inclusion. This commitment was evident in every conversation I had during the search process and my visit to campus.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDriven in large part by antiracism movements, there is now a growing awareness that to remedy the systemic barriers that prevent some community members from thriving and that prohibit institutions from realizing their full promise, institutional investment in systemic solutions is necessary, required, and right,\u201d she continued. \u201cEquity and inclusion is not a destination that we reach and then pass over on our way to something else good and desirable but a core value that guides and shapes everything we do and everything we say we are.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Am\u00e1ez comes to Bates College from Simply Business, a Boston-based insurance provider, where she has served as the company\u2019s first global leader for diversity, equity, and inclusion since February 2021. In her current role, she has collaborated with employee resource groups, helped review and revise company policies with an equity lens, and developed strategic plans and initiatives to ensure support and an inclusive workplace culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An attorney, Am\u00e1ez has more than 15 years of experience in industry, government, the nonprofit sector, and higher education. Before Simply Business, she worked for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Pine Tree Legal Assistance, and Bowdoin College supporting DEI efforts and programs. Earlier in her career, Am\u00e1ez was a criminal defense attorney in the Bronx, N.Y.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Am\u00e1ez added that she looks forward to building upon this foundation in partnership with students, faculty, staff, alumni, trustees, and the Lewiston community, to ensure that equity and inclusion remain an important part of the Bates experience, both in principle and in practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In her role as vice president for equity and inclusion at Bates, Am\u00e1ez will be responsible for developing and implementing a framework for diversity and inclusion in collaboration with partners across campus. A direct report to the president and member of the college\u2019s senior leadership team, she will lead the college-wide approach to equity and inclusion in partnership with key stakeholders across the community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At Maine\u2019s DHHS, Am\u00e1ez served as an internal consultant to DHHS senior leaders, guiding their understanding and application of best practices in DEI throughout the department. She collaborated with state officials to improve the support of minority-owned vendors in Maine\u2019s contracting process, and she was instrumental in helping the agency address inequities in COVID-19 vaccine distribution. Before joining DHHS, Am\u00e1ez was director of pro bono services for Pine Tree Legal, a non-profit advocacy group that provides legal services to low-income residents in Maine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At Bowdoin, where she spent eight years as associate dean of students for diversity and inclusion, Am\u00e1ez helped students from underrepresented groups navigate their college experience. She coordinated educational programs to explore issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality; designed staff positions for DEI work; and created the college\u2019s first Student Center for Multicultural Life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
During her tenure at Bowdoin, she also led efforts to establish best practices for hiring and retaining a diverse staff. She served on various committees with staff, faculty, students, and trustees, advocating for resources and engaging in conversations about how to address demands on faculty\u2019s time, especially for faculty from historically marginalized backgrounds to whom students and institutions often turn for support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Originally from New York state, Am\u00e1ez earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in Latin American studies from Wesleyan University and a law degree from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Her appointment follows a national search overseen by a committee that included faculty, staff, and students, with assistance from WittKieffer, a search firm with expertise in diversity, equity, and inclusion searches. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Leana Am\u00e1ez, who joins Bates on Feb. 27, 2023, is a seasoned equity and inclusion leader and longtime advocate for underrepresented populations. \u201cI am thrilled to welcome Leana to Bates to lead our work in equity and inclusion \u2014 work that is central to our mission and to the success and well-being of every member of our community,\u201d said Bates President Clayton Spencer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":538,"featured_media":5364,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"Leana Am\u00e1ez, who joins Bates on Feb. 27, 2023, is a seasoned equity and inclusion leader and longtime advocate for underrepresented populations. \u201cI am thrilled to welcome Leana to Bates to lead our work in equity and inclusion \u2014 work that is central to our mission and to the success and well-being of every member of our community,\u201d said Bates President Clayton Spencer.","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[8,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-diversity-and-inclusion","with-sidebar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/equity-inclusion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/equity-inclusion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/equity-inclusion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/equity-inclusion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/538"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/equity-inclusion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5362"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/equity-inclusion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5366,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/equity-inclusion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5362\/revisions\/5366"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/equity-inclusion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/equity-inclusion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/equity-inclusion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/equity-inclusion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}