Springfield district taps Missouri State official to fill top diversity job

The Springfield school board has selected a Missouri State University official to serve as its inaugural chief equity and diversity officer.

Yvania Garcia-Pusateri will begin the new role Sept. 9.

The executive director of multicultural programs at Missouri State has worked in higher education since 2007. She has been in that role since July 2016.

The school board created the new position — part of Superintendent John Jungmann's cabinet — as part of a priority in the 2019-20 year to address the needs of students who, in general, have lagged behind their peers academically.

“The leadership and expertise that she brings to this new role will be critical to building learning and working environments that are more inclusive for all, while also bridging the achievement gap for our under-resourced and under-represented students," Jungmann said. "Yvania will have full support from our system as she leads this important work.”

More than 40 applied for the newly created position. Garcia-Pusateri, 35, emerged as one of two finalists and was selected by the board during an executive session Tuesday evening. Her salary will be $96,720.

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“I am passionate about promoting a culture of care that enhances the personal and academic trajectory of students,” she said, in a news release.

"I am excited to join Springfield Public Schools and its executive leadership team because of the shared commitment to student success and to supporting and affirming their identities and lived experiences. I look forward to working directly with students, families, staff and community members on transformative initiatives.”

Her MSU salary for this year was slated to be $63,220.

Wes Pratt, chief diversity officer at Missouri State, said Garcia-Pusateri has the right skill set and temperament. He was part of a community group that interviewed the finalists for the position.

"Yvania is an excellent choice. I've enjoyed working with her and we've collaborated on different projects," he said.

Pratt said they have worked together on the annual Youth Empowerment Summit and have brought speakers on a wide variety of topics to campus.

"She brings an energy and a perspective regarding diversity and equity that will move the district forward," he said. "I find her to possess good ideas on how to improve the campus and the community."

He said Garcia-Pusateri will contribute to the district, but the work requires more hands than hers.

"We look at diversity and inclusion as everybody's business," he said.

Garcia-Pusateri joined Missouri State after serving as the assistant director of diversity affairs and coordinator of diverse student development at Miami University in Ohio.

She has a bachelor's degree in communication studies and a master's degree in college counseling and student development from Azusa Pacific University in California.

She is working on her dissertation on "Exploring the journeys of Latinx students as they negotiate a sense of place in a campus multicultural center" as part of a doctoral program in educational leadership at Miami University.

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