We are very pleased to announce that Alex Graves has been named the director of CALS Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Native to Yanceyville, NC, her pathway to NC State started with a bachelor’s degree in biology from Winston-Salem State University as well as an MS and PhD from Virginia Tech. She did a post-doc at Texas A&M before returning to North Carolina in 2005 in the Department of Soil Science, now known as Crop and Soil Science, here at NC State.

In 2015, Alex was tapped to lead the College Office of Diversity and Inclusion as interim director. In the role of interim director, Alex led the charge to create the CALS Diversity and Inclusion Plan. The main goals of the plan are to:

• Improve and maintain an inclusive and equitable college climate.
• Cultivate mutually beneficial community partnerships through community engagement with an emphasis on historically and currently undeserved communities.
• Recruit, retain and develop a diverse community.
• Support innovative and inclusive scholarship and teaching.

Alex is a strong champion for inclusion and diversity, focusing on the concept that we all are a wonderful combination of identities: gender, race, class, sexual orientation and many more. Please join us in welcoming her as director of the CALS Office of Diversity and Inclusion, in addition to continuing her role as a faculty member in the Crop and Soil Science Department.