Download a high-resolution photo of Pierce.
Patricia Pierce, who has been in a leadership role with Vanderbilt University’s Opportunity Development Center almost from its inception, will retire April 30.
Pierce came to Vanderbilt as assistant director in 1977, just a few months after the 1978 opening of the ODC. In 1981 she became only the second director of the office, which oversees the university’s equal opportunity, affirmative action and disability services programs and initiatives. Her current title is senior director of the Opportunity Development Center.
“Pat has been a tireless and respected advocate for diversity and equity on the Vanderbilt campus and beyond,” said Kevin Myatt, associate vice chancellor and chief human resource officer, who announced Pierce’s retirement. “She has achieved outstanding success in the academic world and is recognized internationally for her efforts to promote opportunities for women.”
Pierce will continue doing work for the university as a consultant until the end of the fiscal year. Until a successor is found, Associate Director Anita Jenious will serve as interim director.
“It will be difficult leaving Vanderbilt after working half my life here,” Pierce said. My future plans include spending more time with my family, but Vanderbilt will always be part of my extended family.”
Having worked under three chancellors, she was strategically involved in the development of Vanderbilt’s first comprehensive affirmative action plan, the university’s first self-evaluation of its compliance with the Title IX gender equity legislation and the first assessment of the campus’s accessibility for people with disabilities. She was a key player in the design of the Alphabet Soup training class, which helps managers and supervisors understand critical employment law issues, and she helped establish the annual Diversity Initiative Awards, which recognize individuals for contributions to diversity and equity at Vanderbilt.
In 1996 Pierce was recognized for her “extraordinary contributions to the advancement of women at Vanderbilt” when she received the Mary Jane Werthan Award. Off campus her work on behalf of women has been recognized by such groups as CABLE, the women’s networking organization, and Rotary International. She was a 2002 inductee to the Nashville Middle Tennessee YWCA Academy of Women of Achievement and won Nashville’s 2003 ATHENA Award.
Pierce is a popular leader of workshops on affirmative action, disability issues, gender issues, including sexual harassment, and cultural diversity for Vanderbilt, Nashville community organizations and at regional, national and international conferences, including the Fourth World Conference on Women in China. She was also a participant in the 2002 Oxford Round Table at the University of Oxford in England, a 2000 graduate of Leadership America, a 2004 graduate of Leadership Nashville and a recent inductee of the Tennessee Women’s Forum.
She has represented Vanderbilt on community boards including the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Fair Employment Opportunity, YWCA, Urban League, Metro Human Relations Commission and the League for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. She was recently appointed by Gov. Phil Bredesen to the Board of Commissioners of the Tennessee Commission on Human Rights.
She has served as past co-chair and committee member of Nashville’s ATHENA Awards program, board member of the Women’s Political Caucus, chair of the Human Needs Committee for the League of Women Voters, and board member of the Nashville Sports Council. She was president and conference chair for the Association on Higher Education and Disability, an international organization. She is a past president of CABLE, Nashville and Middle Tennessee YWCA, Women in Higher Education in Tennessee and Women in Numbers. She is past state facilitator of the American Council of Education-Tennessee Network.
At Vanderbilt, she has served on the Equal Access Committee, committee on the Status of Women and Minorities, Women’s Faculty Organization, Violence Against Women Taskforce, Advisory Board for Women and General Studies and the University Policy Committee.
A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Pierce began her career as a field representative and later compliance director for the Tennessee Human Rights Commission.
Media Contact: Elizabeth Latt, (615) 322-NEWS
Elizabeth.p.latt@vanderbilt.edu