Biography
As vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion, Atiya Stokes-Brown, Ph.D., serves as Coastal Carolina University’s first diversity, equity and inclusion officer. The chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer guides efforts to conceptualize, define, assess, nurture and cultivate diversity and inclusion as an institutional resource. By collaborating across campus and with surrounding communities, Stokes-Brown oversees the implementation of strategies that advance accessibility, inclusion and diversity as key parts of the institution’s strategic plan. She also provides administrative supervision for Intercultural and Inclusion Student Services and Accessibility and Disability Services.
A dynamic leader with 15 years of experience teaching and conducting research at the university level, Stokes-Brown has worked collaboratively in numerous capacities across college and university communities, demonstrating strong academic and administrative leadership, and a deep passion for liberal arts education. Prior to serving as assistant vice president for diversity and inclusion, she served as a tenured faculty member in the Department of Political Science at Bucknell University and held several administrative positions at the university including interim associate provost for diversity, faculty fellow in the Office of the Associate Provost for Diversity, and assistant dean of the College of Arts & Sciences.
Drawn to academia by the desire to give back and help build inclusive communities, Stokes-Brown received her Ph.D. in political science from the University of Maryland, College Park and her master's in Political Science from Temple University. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with bachelor's degrees in politics and dance from Randolph-Macon Woman's College (currently known as Randolph College). Her teaching interests include American politics, racial/ethnic minority political behavior, Latino politics, women and politics, campaigns and elections, and Congressional/state politics.
Stokes-Brown scholarly publications broadly center on the political incorporation of women and racial/ethnic groups into the American political system, and issues of representation. She is the author of The Politics of Race in Latino Communities: Walking the Color Line (Routledge, 2012, 2014) and her work has appeared in several peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Politics, American Politics Research, Politics and Policy, the Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, Social Science Quarterly, National Political Science Review, and Political Research Quarterly. She is also the author of several peer-reviewed book chapters.
A native of Philadelphia and a graduate of the Baldwin School in Bryn Mawr, Pa., Stokes-Brown resides in Myrtle Beach with her husband and four children.