Virginia Tech appoints new director for the Black Cultural Center
Kimberly D. Clark-Shaw has been named the new director of the Black Cultural Center, effective June 28, 2021.
Clark-Shaw has dedicated more than 15 years to a career in higher education in academic affairs, enrollment management, and student affairs. Prior to Virginia Tech, Clark-Shaw has worked within the University of Maryland system, serving as the retention director at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and in advising services at Salisbury University.
As the new director of the Black Cultural Center and reporting to the Office for Inclusion and Diversity, Clark-Shaw will support the university's diversity and inclusion efforts by developing programs, events, and services that facilitate the personal, social, academic, and cultural well-being of Black and African American students.
In this role, she will also be responsible for analyzing campus, regional, and national data on conditions affecting the African American community, then using this information to inform and educate the campus community about issues and taking appropriate and responsible actions consistent with advocacy and support of a welcoming and supportive campus community for Black and African American undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff, alumni, and community members.
Clark-Shaw will collaborate with Housing and Residence Life and the Student Success Center to support the Ujima Living-Learning Community.
Specifically focused on diversity, advising, and retention, Clark-Shaw has fostered large-scale university initiatives and has infused education and culture in community collaborations and local outreach efforts. As a devoted champion for the importance of scholarship, Clark-Shaw traveled abroad to partner with the University of Ghana through a Fulbright-Hays International Education Grant, which involved robust service-learning, curriculum development, and research. This experience was the impetus to her collaboration with other universities and local public and private schools, as well as developing community partnerships and programs. She also studied and partnered with the University of Salamanca in Spain and created content-based freshman seminars for diversity.
Clark-Shaw has held national and regional roles in the Association for Orientation, Transition, and Retention in Higher Education; Association of American Colleges and Universities; National Academic Advising Association/International Community of Advisors; and the HBCU Regional Retention Alliance.
She remains committed to the local community by also serving as the executive director and co-founder of a cultural arts organization that raises awareness through intercultural connectedness to encourage conversation and inspire dialogue. She has been honored by the campus community with the President’s Diversity Award, the Multicultural Student Services Award, and recognition for Extraordinary Public Service to the University and Greater Community.
Clark-Shaw earned a Master of Arts in education with a focus on culture, curriculum, and change from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. She is also a member of Phi Beta Kappa honor society. Clark-Shaw is multilingual and speaks English, Spanish, and Twi (a Ghanaian dialect) as well as some Italian, Swiss-German, Swedish, and Mandarin.
