Tiffany Lopez (Vice Provost)

Tiffany Ana López is vice provost for inclusive excellence at Arizona State University. Prior to her appointment in the Office of the University Provost, she was director of ASU’s School of Film, Dance and Theater in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts (HIDA), leading the film program to its launch as the Sidney Poitier New American Film School. She also advanced the evolution of the theater and dance programs (recently joined with music in the newly formed School of Music, Dance and Theatre) supporting signature programs such as Performance in the Borderlands, the Sol Motion Collective and Dance on Camera student film festival. During her time in HIDA, she additionally served as senior advisor to the dean on equity practices and engagement.

Vice Provost Lopez has spent her career in public higher education and joined ASU following 21 years at the University of California, Riverside where, as Tomás Rivera Endowed Chair in the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, she led Latinx initiatives, programming and community engagement. A DEIB centered leader in higher education, her professional development activities include participation and membership in numerous organizations: the National Association for Chief Diversity Officers in Higher Education (2020); ASU Georgetown Academy for Innovation for Leadership in Higher Education (2019); International Council of Fine Arts Deans (2018); ASU Advanced Leadership Institute (2017); University of California Systemwide CORO Leadership Collaborative (2015); Executive Leadership Academy of the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education (2010). Among her awards, she is recipient of an ASU Faculty Women’s Association Outstanding Faculty Mentor award (2019), a Hispanic Lifestyle Latina of Influence (2015), Fulbright Scholar (2004), and numerous grants and fellowships from the Mellon Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Endowment for the Arts and Rockefeller Foundation. A first-generation college student, she earned her PhD and MA from the University of California, Santa Barbara and BA from California State University, Sacramento following transfer from the California community colleges.

Vice Provost Lopez is an arts and humanities scholar and theater artist (dramaturge) whose work explores how people and communities tell stories about trauma and violence and the impact of creativity in launching paths for personal transformation and social change. She has been published in numerous books and journals, including: "Encuentro – Latinx Performance for the New American Theater" (2019); "The Cambridge Guide to U.S. Latina/o Literature" (2016); "Performing the U.S. Latina and Latino Borderlands" (2011); and Theatre Journal (2000). Her editorships include Chicana/Latina Studies: A Journal of MALCS /Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social (2005-2012) and the coming-of-age anthology "Growing Up Chicana/o" (1993). She has also produced scholarly and creative content for regional theaters, including Center Theatre Group (P.L.A.Y. - Performing for Los Angeles Youth) and Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Iluminations). As a literary and production dramaturge, she has worked with numerous companies, including: Southwest Shakespeare Company, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Artists Repertory Theatre, the Mark Taper Forum/Center Theatre Group, Arizona Theatre Company, Cornerstone Theater Company, The Los Angeles Theatre Center, CASA 0101, and Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble. Recent production dramaturgy includes: La Ruta by Isaac Gomez; Mother Road by Octavio Solis; Romeo and Juliet; Mojada: A Mexica Medea by Luis Alfaro and Native Gardens by Karen Zacarias. She has also adapted the work of Tomás Rivera for the stage. She is a founding member of the Latino Theater Alliance of Los Angeles, the National Latinx Theater Commons and the Latinx Literature Society for the American Literature Association.

Vice Provost López has dedicated her career to working collaboratively to advance inclusive excellence and develop DEIB centered leaders. Notably, she is the first in her family to graduate high school and attend college. She began her educational journey as a community college transfer student whose initial goal was to obtain an AA and manage a fast-food restaurant. Through fellowship and support programs, she transferred to California State University, Sacramento where she completed a bachelor’s degree. After spending a year post-graduation participating in creative writing workshops with foundational figures Sandra Cisneros and Rudolfo Anaya, she then earned a scholarship to complete her master’s degree and doctorate at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and was the first Cesar Chavez Dissertation Fellow at Dartmouth College. During her tenure at the University of California, Riverside, she helped to build transdisciplinary undergraduate curriculum; served as director of graduate studies; mentored Latinx PhDs into faculty positions and collaboratively led an interdisciplinary Latinx cluster hire proposal across STEM, business, education, humanities and the arts. She is currently a Foundation Professor in the Sidney Poitier New American Film School at ASU and a national voice on equity, diversity, inclusion, belonging and justice in higher education.