The Office of EDIA Welcomes Dr. Daniel Eisen To His New Role
Vice President Dr. Pierre Morton welcomes Dr. Daniel Eisen to the Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility. Dr. Eisen has accepted the position to serve as the new Director of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in the Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility for Pacific University.
This new role reports to the Vice President of EDIA and supports the ODEIA’s efforts to conduct thorough and ongoing analysis of our academic and co-curricular programming and learning environments (in and out of the classroom) to produce recommendations, initiatives, and practices that are socially just and echo Pacific Universities values to empower, thrive, and advance all students through inclusive and equitable educational practices.
As many of you know, Dr. Daniel B. Eisen is a Filipino-American facilitator, educator, and leader from Ewa Beach, Oahu, Hawaii with over 15 years experience researching, creating and implementing JEDI content and initiatives. He earned his BA from Pacific University (2007) and his PhD in Sociology from the University of Hawaii at Manoa (2011). He returned to Pacific University as a tenure-track faculty member and was recently promoted to Professor of Sociology, while serving as Chair of the Sociology, Anthropology, Criminal Justice, Law and Society Department and the Program Chair of the Gender and Sexuality Studies Program. His research is grounded in the fields of sociology, ethnic studies, critical race theory, and queer and feminist theory. Overall, his work sheds light on how individuals negotiate identities within structures of oppression.
Additionally, he has engaged in the scholarship of teaching and learning to explore how to better support students’ ability to apply course concepts to their personal, social, and political worlds, engage with challenging and difficult concepts and conversations, and create classes rooted in principles of equity and justice. His work has been published in the Journal Committed to Social Change on Race and Ethnicity (JCSCORE), Men and Masculinities, Sociological Perspectives, Teaching Sociology, The Filipino Chronicle (Hawaii-based Filipino newspaper).
As an active member at NCORE, Dr. Eisen has served on the organization’s National Advisory Council, specifically on the Faculty Interests and Needs Committee. For the last six years, he has also worked as a coach for the National Center for Faculty Diversity and Development’s Faculty Success Program, which supports faculty in creating the conditions to thrive in the academy through strategic planning, sustained and balanced productivity, healthy relationships with mentors and collaborators, and investment in work-life balance.
Dr. Eisen will have truncated teaching duties and primary responsibility of two EDIA engagement areas:
1. Inclusive Curriculum, Classroom Culture, and Learning Environments: Work collaboratively with programs to support inclusive/anti-racist curriculum and help navigate sustainable cultural change within programs to be more inclusive of a diverse and changing student population.
2. Managing Bias Education and Student Support: Manage bias related reporting, trainings, and education for the campus community, support student programming that build belonging, and collaborate in the development of a student success framework to close student equity gaps for all marginalized and under supported students.
The Director of EDIA will play a critical role supporting an integrative and sustainable framework of equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility practices toward institutionally inclusive excellence. Let’s welcome Dr. Eisen as he steps into the new role of Director of EDIA at Pacific University.