Parker honored by Women of Color Empowered

Sharon Parker, assistant chancellor for equity and diversity at the University of Washington Tacoma, has been honored as a woman of power who "reaches out beyond her own community bringing people together."

Parker will be recognized, along with 10 other women, at a luncheon on January 31 at the New Hong Kong Restaurant in Seattle.

In 2007, Parker became UW Tacoma's first administrator in charge of equity and diversity. She developed the Diversity Resource Center and is responsible for initiating and monitoring campus policies and practices that support an inclusive and respectful environment.

Previously, Dr. Parker served as a visiting scholar at Claremont Graduate University in California, and a resource faculty at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, while also maintaining a practice as a private consultant on diversity issues in higher education. She specializes in institutional transformation through diversity.

From 1997 to 2000, she served as the president of the American Institute for Managing Diversity, Inc. in Atlanta, Ga., a position that drew upon her combined expertise in the nonprofit sector and career work on issues of diversity. Prior to joining AIMD, Dr. Parker served as the director of Social Responsibility Programs for The Union Institute, a national, progressive university, and senior associate provost and director of the Stanford University Office for Multicultural Development.

In addition, she has lectured publicly on the topics of multiracial, multi-ethnic, and multicultural communities, and institutional change. She was born in Washington, D.C. and is of Native American (Tslagi/Rappahanock) and African American heritage.

The Women of Color Empowered is a luncheon organized by the Northwest Asian Weekly Foundation that is held three times a year. It celebrates the wonderful accomplishments of women who have worked hard to break through the glass ceiling. Each luncheon has a theme, such as women in law, women in corporations, women in the media. The program was created by the Northwest Asian Weekly in 1996. More information about the program can be found at www.womenofcolorempowered.com.