The College of Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) is proud to announce that Abby Fite G’18 has joined the College as the Director of Inclusive Excellence.

Fite is returning to Syracuse University from Bucknell University where she was the Associate Director for Gender and Sexuality Resources and Women’s Resources in the Office of Gender and Sexuality Resources, Equity and Inclusive Excellence. While at Bucknell, Fite received the President’s Diversity and Inclusion award in April 2023.

Prior to Bucknell, Fite was the Manager of Graduate Administration at the University of Pittsburgh’s Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences and was a Program Coordinator at Syracuse University’s LGBTQ Resource Center.

In the Director of Inclusive Excellence role, Fite will help create strategic goals for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) within ECS and advise on effective implementation of initiatives undertaken as a part of ECS’s strategic plan. Fite will oversee assessment of DEIA in the College along with overseeing and coordinating training and education of faculty, staff, students, and student leaders.

“Over a decade ago, I began my career in higher education by accepting a position at Syracuse University’s LGBT Resource Center. Not long after, I enrolled in Syracuse’s School of Education to pursue a Master’s in Cultural Foundations of Education. Each of my professional and educational experiences has shaped the person I am today, but none more so than my experiences at Syracuse, where I discovered my passion for higher education administration; where I developed the understanding of identity and power and privilege and oppression that undergirds my work in DEIA; and where I met so many of the mentors and mentees who affirm and challenge and sustain my commitment to equity and justice, not just in the workplace but across my life,” says Fite. “I am thrilled to return to the University where I grew into myself; and as the Director of Inclusive Excellence for the College of Engineering and Computer Science, I look forward to cultivating a culture of belonging that invites students, staff, and faculty of all identities to do the same.”

Fite received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Vassar College, a master’s degree in cultural foundations of education from Syracuse University and a doctoral degree in educational foundations, organizations and policy from the University of Pittsburgh.