The job title and responsibilities of Yvette E. Pearson, the associate dean for accreditation and assessment in the George R. Brown School of Engineering at Rice University, are changing to better reflect the school’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.Pearson’s new title, effective July 1, is associate dean for accreditation, assessment and strategic initiatives.“In an effort to align with the school’s strategic plan, Yvette will work with faculty, staff and students to ensure our processes, policies, and strategic initiatives are implemented according to best practices for diversity, equity and inclusion,” said Reginald DesRoches, the William and Stephanie Sick Dean of Engineering. “She will also work with various units on campus to identify and/or secure funding for outreach and engagement initiatives that support the recruitment of students from diverse backgrounds.”Pearson will continue her oversight of accreditation for all engineering degree programs and serve as the school’s liaison with national accreditation agencies, the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and pertinent offices on campus. She will assist faculty members in designing sustainable project-assessment plans and will collaborate with the associate dean for academic affairs to help the faculty develop the education research components of grant proposals.Pearson earned a Ph.D. in engineering and applied science (environmental engineering) from the University of New Orleans in 2000, and joined the dean’s office at Rice in 2016. Prior to that, she served as associate chair of civil engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington, and as program director for the Division of Undergraduate Education at the National Science Foundation, where she managed a $70 million award portfolio.Since 2013, she has been a program evaluator for the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology), and she is a registered Professional Engineer in Louisiana.Pearson is a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and recently won its 2018 Professional Practice Ethics and Leadership Award. She chairs ASCE’s Formal Engineering Education Committee and serves as vice chair of its Committee on Diversity and Inclusion. She was a member of the team that authored what is now Canon 8 of ASCE’s Code of Ethics, focused on diversity, equity and inclusion.