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As senior vice president, Lacretia Johnson Flash oversees the offices of Diversity and Inclusion and Equity and works across Berklee to provide strategic leadership and counsel for institutional priorities related to Berklee’s campus culture and climate, and efforts to continue to diversify the community.

Flash joined Berklee in 2018, most recently serving as the vice president for diversity and inclusion. In this capacity she forged strong partnerships with students, faculty, staff, and campus leaders to help advance the goals in Berklee’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Framework and Berklee’s Plan to Address Systemic Racism. In addition to these efforts, she has convened coalitions within Berklee to support and expand signature diversity and inclusion programming including Berklee’s annual Black History Celebration, the Jabulani and Lavender commencement celebrations, and Berklee’s Legacy Award and concert. She has also overseen multiple programmatic, community building, and educational efforts to support learning and engagement in diversity, equity, and inclusion. As a result of these and other initiatives, Berklee earned its first Higher Education Excellence in Diversity Award from Insight Into Diversity.

Throughout her career, Flash has helped to lead institutional diversity and inclusion efforts, and has contributed to the national conversation on diversity and multicultural change in higher education organizations through her research and scholarship on multicultural organizational development(Opens in a new window), and through a nationally recognized diversity, equity, and inclusion professional development series.

Prior to joining Berklee, Flash served as a senior advisor and chief of staff at the University of Vermont, where she helped establish the President’s Commission for Inclusive Excellence and led the implementation of the university’s Framework for Inclusive Excellence. As an educator, she has taught graduate and undergraduate courses on cultural pluralism in higher education, survey research methodology, leadership, and service learning. She believes that leading with compassion, authenticity, and humility are critical to creating spaces for deep learning and sustained engagement.