Kristen Moore named first associate dean for equity and inclusion

By Marcene Robinson

She follows the influential leadership of Rajan Batta, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, who has overseen the growth of the school’s diversity initiatives since 2016, returning to the role in 2020 after serving as interim dean from 2019-20. 

Under Batta’s leadership, the school has become a nationally recognized leader among engineering schools in diversity and inclusion, increased its percentage of female and underrepresented students and faculty, and received bronze-level status by the American Society for Engineering Education Diversity Recognition Program. 

Batta will continue to serve as associate dean for faculty affairs and recognition, with the updated title reflecting an emphasis on faculty achievement and awards.

Moore is an associate professor in the Department of Engineering Education (DEE). She joined UB in 2018, where she became a founding faculty member of DEE and the department’s first director of graduate studies. 

Her research is focused on applied equity and inclusion, with a particular emphasis on technical communication and engineering education. She has authored or co-authored numerous award-winning articles and chapters on equity, inclusion, and justice, as well as the recent book, “Technical Communication After the Social Justice Turn: Building Coalitions for Action,” which won the 2021 Best Book in Scientific and Technical Communication from the National Council of Teachers of English.

Moore’s commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion is best exemplified in her work as chair of the SEAS Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Committee. As chair, her work encompasses developing faculty, student, and staff training; collecting data regarding JEDI initiatives; developing mentoring programs; and developing policy and practice around equity and inclusion. 

She has produced meaningful and practical resources for the SEAS community to advance its approach to equity, diversity and inclusion, including creating the Engineering Justice Across the Curriculum initiative to integrate social impact more directly into the engineering curriculum and extend inclusive pedagogies across SEAS; organizing the JEDI Micro-Grant Program to support faculty development; and serving as an investigator with Batta on the Engineering Design and Innovation Scholars Program, which is funded by a $1.5 million NSF grant to improve retention and graduation rates of high-achieving, low-income students pursuing STEM degrees.

In 2023, Moore received a SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service for her continued efforts to advance equity and inclusion at UB, and in 2022, she was given the SEAS for Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Faculty Award.