Mary Ann Villarreal, the U’s inaugural vice president for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, has been selected to serve on the Executive Committee of the Association of Public Land-grant Universities’ (APLU) Commission on Access, Diversity and Excellence (CADE).

CADE focuses on ways to develop relationships between public higher education and the issues of human resources and social change. Commission members focus on issues such as broadening access and opportunity, enhancing diversity within student and faculty populations and creating partnerships between universities and local and world communities to bring about beneficial social change.

“Serving on the CADE executive committee provides the opportunity to not only showcase the U’s innovative programs and campus successes but also to demonstrate our commitment to better serving Utah’s evolving demographics,” said Villarreal.

The executive committee is the governing body of the commission. Villarreal will serve as one of 13 executive committee members for three years.