Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at The University of Alabama at Birmingham
Paulette Patterson Dilworth, PhD, is the vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Dilworth has accumulated more than 30 years of experience in higher education, diversity education, consulting and training, recruitment retention, research, teaching, and outreach.
Prior to joining UAB in 2016, she served as assistant vice president for access and community initiatives and faculty at Auburn University as an associate professor of curriculum studies in the School of Education at Indiana University-Bloomington. As a diversity and inclusion researcher and practitioner, she has devoted her professional career and much of her personal life to exploring issues of citizenship access, civic literacy and engagement, political learning, equity, and community building.
Dilworth earned a PhD in educational studies from Emory University in Atlanta. Before moving to Indiana University in 2000, she worked at Emory in the Office of Equal Opportunity Programs as Director of Minority Affairs and Assistant Director of Equal Opportunity Programs.
Active in professional, civic, and higher-education organizations, Dilworth has served in leadership roles with professional and community-based organizations that include the College and University Faculty Assembly of the National Council for the Social Studies, the American Educational Research Association, and Indiana Council for the Social Studies. Currently, she serves as president of the Alabama Association of Higher Education Diversity Officers. Dilworth has served as the associate editor of Theory and Research in Social Education and has chaired the Research Focused on Social Studies SIG of the American Education Research Association. She has served as the Equity Chair for Division B—Curriculum Studies and is a past member of the Equity Council of the American Education Research Association and past Vice President of the Indiana Council for the Social Studies.
Dilworth was appointed by the mayor of the city of Bloomington to serve on the Commission on the Status of Black Males. She is a member of the Executive Board of the Shiloh Community Restoration Foundation, Inc., an organization committed to the restoration of one of the original Rosenwald Schools, and serves as chair of the Finance Committee. She is also the Immediate Past President of the Dream Day Foundation Advisory Board. Besides a strong affinity for art and music, Dilworth is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., a public service sorority, and Links, Inc., a philanthropic organization.
Over the course of her career, Dilworth has been recognized with several awards for her contributions to research, teaching, and service to education, including the National Council for Social Studies Exemplary Research Award, the Kipchoge Kirkland Teaching for Social Justice Award, and the Emory University Outstanding Contributions and Service to the University Award. She is the author or co-author of numerous research publications and has been involved as an editor, consultant, reviewer, or contributor in many other print and electronic publishing projects.
