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- Leadership and identity development, intersectionality
- Race and ethnicity
- Knowledge production
- Critical and inclusive pedagogy/practice
- Multicultural education
- Quality, diversity and inclusion in higher education
About
Michael Benitez, Ph.D., is the vice president for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He is a nationally acclaimed scholar practitioner and educator in the field of diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education. Benitez has a critical perspectives on social and cultural issues on topics related to leadership and identity development, intersectionality, race and ethnicity, knowledge production as well as critical and inclusive pedagogy/practice in higher education.
Prior to his current role at MSU Denver, Benitez served as director of diversity initiatives at Dickinson College, director of intercultural development and the black cultural center at Lafayette College, affiliate faculty in the Graduate School of Leadership and Professional Advancement at Duquesne University, director of intercultural engagement and leadership at Grinnell College, and chief diversity officer/dean of diversity and inclusion, and Title IX and EEO officer at the University of Puget Sound.
Benitez’s deep knowledge and practice of innovative equity and inclusion-based strategies has helped to address some of higher education’s more pressing campus climate issues of today, including the Diversity Monologues- a critical spoken work initiative he helped implement and shape at multiple institutions, the campus climate community participatory framework and the Northwest 5 Consortium for supporting faculty of color.
He has authored book chapters and articles on student identity, hip hop culture, cultural centers, cultural and ethnic studies, institutional research and campus climates as well as faculty development. Benitez has also been featured in educational documentaries such as “Cracking the Codes: The System of Racial Inequity” and has appeared on talk shows such as “Worlds Apart,” “Hard Knock Radio” and “Speak out with Tim Wise.”
Benitez received his Ph.D. in educational leadership and policy with a focus on social justice in higher education from Iowa State University, a master’s in counselor education and a bachelor’s in human development and family studies from Pennsylvania State University.
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Social Justice
Member of the Little Rock Nine shares her story of desegregation
Civil-rights trailblazer Carlotta Walls LaNier speaks at MSU Denver's annual MLK Peace Breakfast.
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Business and Economics
Ending DACA would come at a high cost, economists warn
With the Obama-era program in legal peril, experts gather at MSU Denver to discuss the impacts of its repeal.
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Education
The Pell Grant turns 50
Here’s how the federal financial-aid program continues to make college more accessible to thousands of Coloradans and why advocates say it’s time to expand it.
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Politics
The power of place names
The Colorado Naming Advisory Board recommends new designations for 28 geological sites considered offensive to Native American populations.