Luis F. Paredes

Luis F. Paredes, Ph.D., the Associate Vice President for Institutional Equity and Belonging, provides leadership in coordinating the college’s efforts to promote equity and belonging, overseeing the Marshall Center for Intercultural Learning; the Center for Social Justice and Community Impact; the Center for Religious and Spiritual Life, and DEAL (Diversity, Equity & Access Leadership).

Dr. Paredes came to Wheaton from Bridgewater State University, where he served for five years as Director of Institutional Diversity and concurrently held the post of Interim Director for the Lewis and Gaines Center for Inclusion and Equity from June through October 2022. At Bridgewater, he furthered the campus community’s understanding of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in multiple ways, including through the development of programs for students, faculty, and staff.

Dr. Paredes served as an advisor and facilitator of the Leading for Change Racial Equity and Justice Institute (REJI), a consortium of colleges and universities in New England and beyond that is based at Bridgewater State. (Wheaton is a member of the consortium.) He co-edited the book, Racial Equity and Justice Institute Practitioner Handbook (2021). He also served as a visiting associate professor in the School of Social Work/MSW program and the Anthropology Department, where he taught courses on diversity, race, ethnicity, sexism, immigration, dance theory, Spanish, and Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies.

Beyond the Bridgewater campus, he served as a member of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate Design Team and the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Foreign Language Association (MaFLA); he was a fellow at The National Inclusive Excellence Leadership Academy; he studied at the Intercultural Communication Institute, and he was a Visiting Residency Artist at the Duke University Dance Program.

Previously, Dr. Paredes served as the Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Stetson University from 2015 to 2017, and as a senior academic advisor at the University at Albany, State University of New York. He earned his Ph.D. in Cultural Studies from the University at Albany, State University of New York.