A thought leader committed to creating and sustaining a welcoming and just campus climate for the Pace community

Image

Stephanie Akunvabey, a native New Yorker who has dedicated her career in higher education to championing issues relating to equity and inclusion, has been named Pace University’s new associate vice president for diversity and inclusion and its chief diversity officer.

Akunvabey, Ed.D., joins Pace after holding leadership roles at colleges and universities throughout the region. Most recently, she served in a similar role at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island where she provided strategic leadership and developed policies and practices that support an anti-racist, diverse and equitable community across the university’s campuses in Bristol and Providence.

In making the announcement, Pace President Marvin Krislov praised Akunvabey’s experience in the field and her understanding of the university’s mission of Opportunitas, or creating opportunities for students, particularly those who are the first in their families to attend college.

“Stephanie is a talented leader with deep experience in the DEI space,” said Krislov. “Pace University is committed to providing transformative experiences for our diverse student body, and we’re pleased that we’ll be able to benefit from her insights and expertise. We’re excited to welcome her back to her hometown of New York and into our Pace Community.”

As chief diversity officer, Akunvabey will lead a division that is committed to creating and sustaining a welcoming and just campus climate for all members of Pace University through inclusive policies, practices, and programming for the University and its three campuses -- in New York City, Pleasantville, and the Elisabeth Haub School of Law in White Plains.

As leader of the Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, she oversees the Office of Institutional Equity and Title IX Compliance; Office of Sexual and Interpersonal Wellness; and Office of Multicultural Affairs. Akunvabey will also provide thought-leadership and oversight at The Barry M. and Jackie Gosin Center for Equity and Inclusion, which in 2021 was established to support ongoing efforts at Pace in anti-racism and equity, expand work to elevate job placement and entrepreneurship among Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) students, and enhance academic scholarship in these areas.

During her tenure in higher education, Akunvabey has held a number of leadership roles. While at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, she served as interim assistant dean of academic affairs where she helped develop the college’s equity plan and classroom equity efforts, enabling Kingsborough to participate in Achieving the Dream and USC Race and Equity Center’s Racial Equity Leadership Academy. Akunvabey also led campus dialogues and workshops to address social justice, civic engagement, and equity issues.

Akunvabey has an Ed.D. in Higher and Postsecondary Education, an M.A. in Higher Education and Student Personnel Administration from New York University, and a B.A. in Sociology/Anthropology and Africana Studies from Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia. She has conducted research on college access for Black and Latino youth in America, on access and inclusion issues in higher education in India and Israel, and on educational equity for young girls in South Africa.

“I’m excited to return home to New York and to join Pace University in its mission of preparing students to be tomorrow's leaders and changemakers,” said Akunvabey. “I’m also eager to build on the strong foundation at an institution that truly exemplifies diversity and is committed to fairness, equity, and inclusion for all of its students.”

About Pace University

Since 1906, Pace University has been transforming the lives of its diverse students—academically, professionally, and socioeconomically. With campuses in New York City and Westchester County, New York, Pace offers bachelor, master, and doctoral degree programs to 13,600 students in its College of Health Professions, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, Elisabeth Haub School of Law, Lubin School of Business, School of Education, and Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems.

Generative artificial intelligence isn’t new, but it’s certainly having its time to shine. With the release of public models such as Chat-GPT, AI is at the fingertips of anyone with an internet connection. Students in the field are getting to dive deeper and expand what we know of its capabilities. This is happening in the form of research, start-ups, and hackathons, such as the Inclusive Hackathon, sponsored by Digital Page and Capgemini, in which Pace students took home the win.

Image

Darsh Joshi ’24 is pursuing his master’s in Data Science and was on the winning team. This hackathon was somewhat out of the norm. Usually, hackathons last a few days, but the more intensive ones may take a week. “But this was an exceptional hackathon,” Darsh says. “It lasted for five long weeks. The extended length's purpose was to learn generative AI from the basics first.”

He explains that companies like Capgemini have noted the boom in generative AI and are seeking to find practical applications for it within their companies to implement solutions to long-standing problems. They want to know how participants’ solution with the use of generative AI can help automate data analysis and record keeping to improve efficiency.

That was what Darsh’s team was tasked with figuring out.

Their team was first given the option to either tackle an generative AI problem or an ESG problem, a movement focused on the intersection of good business with positive environmental impact. They chose to tackle generative AI.

For those of us in the crowd who don’t understand the ins and outs of AI, Darsh breaks it down into what this means practically for a company. “In finance, there’s lots of data. Companies use this data to generate reports, process the data, and come up with an outcome,” he says. “They wanted us to create something where the company’s internal employees can directly upload a document into that website or web application and get any insights, they want just by querying the document like casual users do when they use Chat-GPT.”

This kind of functionality has obvious benefits for any company, reducing time spent analyzing data and (hopefully) reducing human error. Darsh further explains the importance of why these companies are looking for internal solutions, rather than utilizing open-source AI tools: privacy. This understanding is a large part of why Darsh’s team stood out to the judges and ultimately won.

If I want any resources Pace University, has it. If I want to upskill myself, Pace has it.

“We introduced a security feature which could encrypt important information that is only stored within the company, and then decrypt that information when it comes back with a response,” Darsh says. “We introduced this data security and governance feature into our solution, and it led us to our victory.”

Their team, consisting of Pace students Dhruv Patel ’24, Malav Shah ’24, and Rutik Kothwala ’24, divided the work, conceptualized their idea, fine-tuned their model, and provided a solution that impressed the judges and helped expand their knowledge on working with these new models of generative AI.

Post-hackathon wins, Darsh is still steeped in AI work. He’s currently an AI and Machine Learning intern for Advance Dental Care of Vernon, where he’s helping create an internal AI model of cognitive document processing, allowing the staff there to better keep track of customer data and other business-related reporting. He also works for the Computational Intelligence Lab and runs the Data Sciences Club right here at Pace. “We are doing amazing things,” he says. “We’re working on a couple of collaborations. We have a team of people working on events, social media, and web content.”

Students who want to be on the frontier of AI innovation can find those opportunities here at Pace, whether at the Computational Intelligence Lab or learning from faculty exploring the technology. “If I want any resources Pace University, has it,” says Darsh. “If I want to upskill myself, Pace has it.”

Get involved with Pace’s Data Sciences Club and pick up new skills at the Computational Intelligence Lab.