Napa Valley College names senior director of diversity

Patricia van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy, Ph.D., has been named senior director for diversity, equity and inclusion at Napa Valley College.

Van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy is a socio-cultural anthropologist. She will be working with college leadership in helping to help guide and shape Napa Valley College’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, the community college stated.

“I look forward to working with Patricia in the collaborative development of goals that champion the importance and value of a diverse and inclusive culture at Napa Valley College,” said Ron Kraft, Ph.D., superintendent and president at Napa Valley College. “Her focus on fostering collaboration between faculty, students and administrators, as well as with the wider community, will be a tremendous asset to our staff and faculty and our shared commitment to student success.”

She was previously an assistant professor and distinguished chair of Africana Studies at Dickinson College. Prior to that, she was a visiting faculty fellow at Duke University; a graduate student research assistant, adviser and lecturer at the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies at the University of Michigan; and an ethnographic researcher for National Science Foundation-supported dissertation research in Trinidad and Tobago.

Van Leeuwaarde Moonsammy earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration from San Francisco State University and her master’s and doctoral degrees, both in anthropology, from the University of Michigan.

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