This January, Dianna Graves '98 was appointed as assistant vice president and dean of students.
In all of her service to the College, said President Hiram Chodosh, Graves has put students first.
"When she comes to work every morning," he said, "Dianna brings it-the rigor of higher learning, the joy of fierce competition, the loyalty of a lifetime friend-to support our students in all they aspire to achieve."
Graves has worked for her alma mater since 1999, when she returned to serve as head coach of the women's volleyball team after working one year as a research associate in the molecular genetics department at City of Hope, investigating the genetic processes underlying cancer.
As director of academic planning from 2010-16, Graves oversaw federal grant administration, institutional accreditation, and external program review. She played a key role in the establishment of the Personal and Social Responsibility Initiative and worked on issues related to sexual assault, drug and alcohol use, academic integrity, and campus climate. Promoted to assistant vice president for strategic initiatives in 2016, she built collaborative processes to develop and implement strategic initiatives and focused on the alignment of curricular and co-curricular programs to support student learning and personal growth.
As a student, Graves earned 11 varsity letters in volleyball, basketball, and track, and received the Dickinson Award, presented to the student who "above all others typifies those qualities of athletic participation which are beneficial to the student body." She served as head resident assistant and won the Berger Prize as one of two outstanding students in her graduating class.
Despite those accolades, Graves, who holds a Ph.D. in education from Claremont Graduate University, emphasizes that her time studying and working at CMC has showed her "there is no one type of path through CMC that is superior to others." As dean of students, she says she will "encourage students to think about their personal and professional résumés not as a series of bullet points, but as a series of powerful experiences that create a rich story about who they are and what value they can bring to any environment."
A recipient of CMC's 2015 Exceptional Service Award, Graves is a member of the American Education Research Association and the National Council of University Research Administrators. She sits on the board of the Claremont Educational Foundation.