Brandi P. Jones

Vice Dean for Diversity and Strategic Initiatives

Biography

Dr. Jones is responsible for leading and directing equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives for Viterbi School of Engineering. She works collaboratively with Viterbi colleagues on strategies to increase the diversity and enhance the experiences of students, faculty, and staff, ensure an inclusive culture, and promote retention through activities, programs, and events. She assists in the creation of a training curriculum for faculty and graduate students on topics that support inclusive excellence and cultural competency.

Brandi assumes a leadership role in the national engineering diversity and inclusion conversation regarding standards, benchmarks and best practices. She brings 20+ years of experience and proven track record of success in higher education administration, diversity, outreach, and student development. In her previous position as Associate Dean for Graduate Affairs in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Princeton University, Brandi played a key role with engineering and university wide diversity initiatives; contributed to recruitment, admission, and retention efforts of graduate students; and drove key efforts in improving professional development and experiences of postdoctoral researchers. Brandi has held positions at California Institute of Technology, Occidental College, and California State University, Long Beach. She has held leadership positions in the National Association of Minority Engineering Program Advocates, National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, and Quality Education for Minorities Network. Throughout her career, she has been involved with numerous K-12 STEM outreach initiatives, such as Young Engineering and Science Scholars, IndeedWeCode, Yes We Code, and ChickTech.

Brandi’s professional experience is enhanced by her Doctorate in Higher Education Management from the University of Pennsylvania, combined with her research focus on experiences of underrepresented minority students in engineering disciplines.