PNCA Names Victor Maldonado Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion
September 24, 2018
Portland, OR—September 25, 2018—Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) is proud to announce the appointment Victor Maldonado as Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion. As the college's Chief Diversity Officer, Maldonado works to promote equity, diversity, and inclusion throughout the PNCA community to ensure optimal conditions for teaching and learning for all students as well as to build an inclusive and equitable work environment for our faculty and staff.
Maldonado began teaching at PNCA in 2007 and in 2010 was appointed the college’s first Inclusions Specialist. In 2014, they served as Interim Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs. They have served on the Board of Governors’ Diversity Task Force, the President’s standing Equity and Social Justice Action Committee (ESJAC), and with Dr. Shawna Lipton, they founded the college’s Equity Council.
In addition to leading Equity Council and serving on ESJAC, Maldonado, in this position, will also be part of the college’s hiring processes, by directly participating as well as preparing hiring committees with trainings on diversity and inclusion throughout the year.
Maldonado has been instrumental in forging community partnerships including those with Bienestar and We Are Here. Last year PNCA partnered with Bienestar, a Hillsboro based housing advocacy organization, to support Dreamers of Oregon: Out of the Shadows, a photo project by Holly Andres. This year PNCA is partnering with We Are Here, a non-profit organization whose mission is to support creatives of color and lgbtq+ creatives in the fields of art and design, through mentorship and networking events to ensure diverse and inclusive workspaces that recognize and value transformative leadership.
In addition to being an educator, Victor Maldonado is an artist, freelance curator, and writer. Born in 1976 in Changuitrio, Michoacan, Mexico, they grew up in the Central San Joaquin Valley of California in a family of migrant field laborers. Maldonado holds a BFA in Painting and Drawing from the California College of Art (2000), and an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the School of Art Institute in Chicago (2005). Maldonado’s work has been shown widely and is held in a number of permanent collections. They are represented in Portland by Froelick Gallery.