Editors’ Note: This feature appears as it was published in the spring 2022 edition of UT Dallas Magazine. Titles or faculty members listed may have changed since that time.
Dr. Yvette E. Pearson
After working to increase opportunities in engineering for women, minorities, students from low-income backgrounds and people with disabilities as a longtime faculty member and administrator, Dr. Yvette E. Pearson began a new role in fall 2021 as UT Dallas’ new vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion.
She joined the University after serving as associate dean for accreditation, assessment and strategic initiatives in the George R. Brown School of Engineering at Rice University.
“Dr. Pearson brings 25 years of experience as an educator and administrator who has worked to expand access and success for diverse communities in engineering,” said UT Dallas President Richard C. Benson.
Pearson, who is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Southern University, and her PhD in engineering and applied science from The University of New Orleans.
She has received numerous honors, including the 2021 President’s Medal from the American Society of Civil Engineers; the 2021 Distinguished Engineering Educator Award from the Society of Women Engineers; and the 2019 Claire L. Felbinger Award for Diversity and Inclusion from ABET.
In 2013 she received a UT System Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award as a senior lecturer at UT Arlington, where she taught from 2007 to 2016 and served as associate chair of civil engineering during part of her tenure.
Pearson also spent three years as a program director at the National Science Foundation. She created and hosts the “Engineering Change” podcast.
– Kim Horner
