Champlain College Appoints Special Adviser to the President for Diversity and Inclusion

Dr. Angela Batista

Champlain College has announced that Dr. Angela E. Batista will be the Special Adviser to the President for Diversity and Inclusion beginning in June. As Special Adviser, she will work with President Donald J. Laackman and other stakeholders at the College to more fully realize the diversity and inclusion goals and aspirations outlined in the College's 2020 Strategic Plan and beyond.

"Angela possesses the experience and insight to help Champlain increase a sense of inclusion at the College, and Champlain College is fortunate to attract a professional with Angela's expertise back to Vermont," said Laackman.
Batista was Champlain's inaugural Diversity and Inclusion senior director from 2007-2010. She is currently Interim Chief Diversity Officer at Oregon State University, where she also served as Associate Vice Provost for Student Affairs and Dean of Student Life since 2015. Prior to joining Oregon State, she served as Dean of Students at the University of Southern Indiana.

"I am thrilled to be returning to Champlain and Vermont at such a critical time for the college, the state and the country. Champlain is a terrific institution and there is great commitment for advancing issues of diversity, equity and inclusion and to supporting the changing needs of students, faculty and staff," said Batista. "I look forward to working with all stakeholders, and well as local and regional partners to help the institution meet its strategic goals."
She has worked in various colleges and universities across the United States, including the University of Vermont, Lynn University, and Mills College. Her experience as an educator includes working as a teacher, counselor, senior administrator in Student Affairs and a Chief Diversity Officer. Batista has also worked as a high school teacher, counselor and administrator, serving as Foreign Language Department Chair and directing a high school English Language Learners' Program in South Florida.

Batista has received several honors including being named as Teacher of the Year, the Diversity Awareness Thoughtfulness and Courage Award, the creation of the Angela Batista Social Justice Award -- awarded to a deserving student at the University of Vermont every spring since 1999 and being awarded the NASPA Latinx/a/o Knowledge Community Senior Administrator of the Year Award. She is also actively engaged as a national and international consultant and has served in multiple leadership roles in professional national organizations.

Batista earned her Ed.D. in Leadership from Nova Southeastern University and her master's degree from the University of Vermont. Her undergraduate work was completed at Brooklyn College in New York City.


Founded in 1878, Champlain College is a small, not-for-profit, private college in Burlington, Vermont, with additional campuses in Montreal, Canada, and Dublin, Ireland. Champlain offers a traditional undergraduate experience from its beautiful campus overlooking Lake Champlain and over 90 residential undergraduate and online undergraduate and graduate degree programs and certificates. Champlain's distinctive career-driven approach to higher education embodies the notion that true learning occurs when information and experience come together to create knowledge. Champlain College is included in the Princeton Review's The Best 384 Colleges: 2019 Edition. For the fourth year in a row, Champlain was named a "Most Innovative School" in the North by U.S. News & World Report's 2019 "America's Best Colleges,” and a “Best Value School” and is ranked in the top 100 “Regional Universities of the North” and in the top 25 for “Best Undergraduate Teaching.” Champlain is also featured in the Fiske Guide to Colleges for 2019 as one of the "best and most interesting schools" in the United States, Canada and Great Britain and is a 2019 College of Distinction. For more information, visit champlain.edu.