Feeling Welcome: Connecting Through Conversations

Teresa Nance, PhD currently serves as the Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and Chief Diversity Officer and as a Professor of Communication. In this role, she is leading the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Her career spans more than four decades, during which time she has served as an administrator, teacher, scholar, activist and ‘support system’ for students, faculty, and staff at the University. In 2018, The National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education recognized Dr. Nance with the Frank W. Hale, Jr. Distinguished Service Award – an honor given to individuals who have “contributed substantially to diversity and inclusive excellence in higher education.”

Dr. Nance was the first Black tenure-track faculty member in the Department of Communication at Villanova, where she established an African American rhetoric course and created the highly sought-after multicultural leadership course. As a researcher, Dr. Nance has investigated the perceptions and stages of interracial relationship development, diversity and inclusion, and intergroup dialogue. She was the founding Assistant Vice President for the Center for Multicultural Affairs. In 2015—to further elevate the University’s commitment to diversity and inclusion—Villanova created the Office of Diversity and Inclusion making Dr. Nance its founding director and naming her named Associate Vice Provost of Diversity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer.

Led by Dr. Nance, the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI) supports Villanova’s continuing efforts to create a welcoming and diverse community at all levels, including students, faculty, administrators, and staff. The office works with academic, administrative, and other units of the University to develop strategies aimed at fostering a Villanova community where individual differences are acknowledged and appreciated.  Most recently Dr. Nance led the Aequitas Task Force on Race at the University.  The Task Force which involved over 100 Villanovans examined all aspects of university life as a means of striving toward assuring equity and justice for all.

Dr. Nance received a Bachelor and Master’s degree from Emerson College in Boston and a Ph.D. from Temple University in Philadelphia.   Terry currently lives in Center City Philadelphia with her husband Kermit Moore, a retired Communication professor.  They have two wonderful grown sons named Christian and Jesse.