AAAA Press Kit

RENEÉ S. DUNMAN, ESQ. AAAA PRESIDENT

Ms. ReNeé S. Dunman, Esq., has blended her leadership and management skills with a comprehensive knowledge of employment law, which has developed into a professional reputation respected by academe and industry throughout the nation. Ms. Dunman graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mass Communications from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1985. In 1987, she received her Master’s degree in Communications from Norfolk State University and in 1993 she received a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Baltimore School of Law where her focus of study was employment law.

She is presently serving as the Assistant to the President and Director of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action at Old Dominion University where she is responsible for advising the President, monitoring and coordinating all equal opportunity, affirmative action and diversity efforts of the University. She is also President of the American Association for Affirmative Action. Based in Washington, D.C., it is a national professional organization for equal opportunity, affirmative action and diversity practitioners with over 900 members. She is the immediate past Chair of the Hampton Roads Industry Liaison Group.

Currently, she is a member of the Virginia State Bar, the American Bar Association, and the National Association of College and University Attorneys.

She is a highly sought trainer and consultant having conducted sessions for national and international clients in business, government, military, industry and higher education. She has been interviewed by the media on related topics and has made appearances on the international, national, state and regional level including the British Broadcasting Network, CNN, Court TV, Time Magazine, Inside Higher Ed, Diversity, Inc., and Diverse Issues. Her personal motto is “Making a Difference - One Individual at a Time”.

JONI BAKER, PH.D. AAAA SECRETARY AND FIRST VICE-PRESIDENT-ELECT

Dr. Joni Baker is currently Director of Equal Opportunity and Diversity for The Texas A& M University System, a consortium of 11 universities, seven state agencies, and a comprehensive health science center. She has been with the A&M System since September 1995. From 1984 to 1995, Joni was a Diplomat with the U.S. Department of State, serving at embassies in Africa and Asia.

Joni is a graduate of American University (B.S.), Georgetown University (M.A.), and Texas A&M University (Ph.D.). She has traveled throughout 49 countries and speaks four languages in addition to English (French, Swahili, Chinese, and Spanish). Joni is the National Secretary and 1st Vice President-Elect of the American Association for Affirmative Action. She is also a member of the Texas Association of Mediators, the Association for Conflict Resolution, and the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources.

GREGORY T. CHAMBERS AAAA REGIONAL DIRECTOR AND PRESIDENT-ELECT

Gregory T. Chambers has been the EEO/AA Manager for the State of Delaware for the past 24 years. He has been in public service for 37 years, having spent 13 of those years in a variety of capacities with the City of Wilmington, most notably director of community affairs in the Office of the Mayor. Gregory is a graduate of Wilmington University with a Bachelor’s of Arts Degree in Behavioral Science. He is a Certified Conflict Partnership Catalyst (CPC) trained in facilitating resolution to differences and preserving relationships at work and in the community.

Gregory is a 22-year member of the American Association for Affirmative Action serving as state coordinator, regional director and now 2010 president-elect. He founded and formerly chaired the Delaware Work Force Diversity Group (DWFDG). Established in 1989, DWFDG is a mechanism for networking and sharing information on equal employment opportunity, affirmative action, and diversity in the workplace for public and private sector employers.

Gregory retired from his State of Delaware EEO position after being offered an EEO Manager position with the Delaware River and Bay Authority (DRBA). The Authority is a non-state agency that operates like a private employer. The DRBA President/CEO selected Gregory to use his proven skills and abilities to address the organization’s pressing EEO/AA needs and concerns. He began his new job on October 12, 2009.

WILLYERD R. COLLIER, SR., ESQ. AAAA BOARD MEMBER AND SECOND VICE-PRESIDENT-ELECT

Willyerd R. Collier Sr., Esq., is the founding Director of the Office of Affirmative Action at the University of Arkansas located in Fayetteville Arkansas. The Office of Affirmative Action reports to the Chancellor and is charged with keeping the U of A in compliance as a federal contractor pursuant to the regulations of the United States Department of Labor Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. (OFCCP) The OAA was founded in 1994 and currently has five staff members.

Willyerd is a native of East Chicago, Indiana. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree with a double major in political science and speech with a minor in Black Studies from Wabash College in Crawfordsville Indiana (1975). He holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of Iowa, College of Law (1978). At Iowa he served as Manager of the Afro-American Cultural Center. He also served as a member of the College of Laws Moot Court Board and Graduate Opportunities Fellowship Committee. In 1977 he authored the first recruitment brochure targeting the recruitment of African American law students in the Big Ten.

CARMEN SUAREZ, PH.D. AAAA BOARD MEMBER AND SECRETARY-ELECT

Carmen Suarez, Ph.D., is the Director of Human Rights, Access and Inclusion at the University of Idaho. She develops and implements various diversity, bias prevention, sexual harassment and faculty/staff professional development training programs, initiates underrepresented faculty/staff strategic recruitment and retention plans, investigates and resolves complaints, monitors various dimensions of institutional equity and serves as Title IX and ADA Coordinator and Affirmative Action Officer for the institution.

Carmen has worked in AA/EEO compliance, university enrollment management, law school career services administration, private sector management and human resources and public services program implementation. She began her career in graduate admissions, worked for several years assisting migrant farm workers, directed a comprehensive university minority student recruitment and retention program, served as a university affirmative action officer, managed a private sector company’s human resources and developed and implemented the company’s minority-owned business certification, researched and submitted business proposals and pursued government procurement opportunities. She has conducted numerous training programs on topics such as minority student higher education access, various diversity and managing diversity topics, sexual harassment, Latino and African American relations, bias prevention, gender communications, career development and employment hiring practices.

MELVIN WILLIAMS AAAA REGIONAL DIRECTOR AND TREASURER ELECT

Melvin Williams, the current Director of Diversity and International Affairs in the Human Resources Department, came to UTMB from the University of Kansas Medical Center in 1997 accepting the position of Director of the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity. Melvin accepted the challenge of coming to Texas (UTMB) as a result of the anti-affirmative action court ruling, Hopwood vs. Texas, with the belief that he could have an impact regarding that negative ruling. When he arrived at UTMB, the university was under a conciliation agreement with the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), two class action law suits had been filed against the university, the NAACP was threatening a march against the institution for unfair hiring practices and the university was not in compliance with ADA regulations. The issues that created the conciliation agreement were resolved; one of the class action law suits was deemed moot; the second law suit was reduced to a single individual and a satisfactory solution was accomplished; the NAACP was brought on board and did not march; and the university was brought into compliance with the ADA all within his first year of service to the university.

SHIRLEY J. WILCHER, J.D., CAAP AAAA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Shirley J. Wilcher, J.D., CAAP, is an authority on equal opportunity and diversity policy. Ms. Wilcher is currently Executive Director of the American Association for Affirmative Action (AAAA). She is also President of Wilcher Global, LLC, a consulting firm that specializes in diversity management, affirmative action, contract compliance, and government relations. During the Clinton Administration, Ms. Wilcher served a seven-year term as Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), in the Employment Standards Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor. Her more than twenty years of experience include service as civil rights counsel with the Education and Labor Committee, US House of Representatives; Director for State Relations and General Counsel with the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and staff attorney with the National Women’s Law Center. Ms. Wilcher is an honors graduate of Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts; holds a Master of Arts Degree from the New School for Social Research in New York, NY; and a Juris Doctor from the Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Among her credentials is a Certified Affirmative Action Professional (CAAP) certificate from the American Association for Affirmative Action.