Trevor Parry-Giles Appointed Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Professor of communication will coordinate and implement DEI initiatives, collect and share data, revise college policies and procedures and more.

By Jessica Weiss ’05

Dean Bonnie Thornton Dill has announced the appointment of Professor of Communication Trevor Parry-Giles as the associate dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the College of Arts and Humanities (ARHU). Effective January 2022, Parry-Giles begins a five-year term of leading the college in continuing to advance diversity, equity and inclusion goals and practices.

The half-time administrative role will represent the Office of the Dean in equity affairs and work with college and university administration, as well as with ARHU faculty, staff and students. Responsibilities include coordinating and implementing DEI initiatives, collecting and sharing information and activities regarding DEI, and analyzing—and revising as needed—college policies and procedures.

“I am so pleased that Trevor Parry-Giles will serve as the college’s point person on all matters DEI,” Thornton Dill said. “For nearly two decades, he has worked to advocate and promote diversity, inclusion and equity through his service to his department, the college, the university and in his professional association. I know his new role will bring even greater visibility to the many outstanding DEI activities already taking place in the college and generate new initiatives to create an even more inclusive, equitable and diverse environment, in which excellence will flourish ” 

Parry-Giles will lead the creation and implementation of a new and updated equity and justice strategic plan for the college, a follow-up to ARHU’s diversity strategic plan, developed by the college’s Diversity Task Force, of which he was part. The updated plan will assess DEI work and lay forth new recommendations for the college. 

Under Thornton-Dill’s leadership, the college has made a number of key advances toward strengthening diversity, equity and inclusion. A collegewide Campaign on Race, Equity and Justice, launched in 2020, has sought to increase knowledge of systemic racism and the issues related to anti-racist practice, transform curriculum and scholarship to center the experiences of historically underrepresented communities, reduce incidents of individual and systemic racism and discrimination and more. As part of that campaign, the college launched a Committee on Race, Equity and Justice to advise the dean on how to work toward the eradication and dismantling of structural racism and ensure equity and social justice. The college also launched the Dean’s Colloquium on Race, Equity and Social Justice, a conversation series that highlights ARHU faculty experts in conversation with the dean about their scholarship and creative projects related to anti-racism and social justice. And a new special purpose ARHU Faculty Grant supports scholarship that addresses anti-racism.

Parry-Giles called the chance to play a role in advancing and upholding the college’s DEI goals both “challenging and exciting.”

“Diversity and inclusion only makes us better and more responsive to the needs of our faculty, staff and students as they enter and engage with an ever more diverse world; and equity should be foundational to all that we do. I view DEI as an area full of possibility and hope that can only work to the benefit of ARHU and UMD. It’s great to be a part of that work.” 

Parry-Giles has taught communication at the University of Maryland since 1999. His research and teaching focus on the historical and contemporary relationships between rhetoric, politics, law and popular culture. He is the award-winning author or editor of four books, as well as a Distinguished Research Fellow and a Distinguished Teaching Fellow of the Eastern Communication Association. In 2019, he received the University of Maryland's Graduate Faculty Mentor of the Year Award.

In the College of Arts and Humanities, Parry-Giles has served on the Graduate Fellowships Committee for the past six years and has chaired and served on numerous selection and award committees for the Graduate School. He has served on seven faculty search committees as well as the search committee for the dean of the School of Journalism in 2011–12. He was also chair of the Department of Communication’s Appointment, Promotion and Tenure (APT) committee and Professional Track Faculty Promotion committee, and served on the ARHU APT committee.

He said his commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion comes largely from his own life experience and background. Growing up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in a half Mexican American, half Anglo family, “diversity was not an abstraction,” he said. 

“I have a sincere belief in the worth and dignity of individuals and know that much good comes from the valuing and advancement of diverse voices and perspectives,” he said. “Putting these values and commitments into practice is critical—to me in my professional life, and for all of higher education to maintain its commitment to excellence and its relevance for an increasingly diverse world.” 

Parry-Giles earned a doctorate in communication from Indiana University, a masters in mass communication/speech communication from the University of New Mexico and a bachelors in communication and politics and government from Ripon College. 

Thornton Dill underscored her sincere appreciation for Professor of Communication Linda Aldoory, associate dean for faculty affairs and research in the college, who chaired the search for the new DEI role and who held the position as diversity and inclusion officer and equity administrator for the college over the past two years. She also thanked Senior Lecturer in the Department of Art Wendy Jacobs, who served as interim diversity and inclusion officer and equity administrator beginning in Fall 2021 until Parry-Giles began his term.

Photo by David Andrews.