Growing up in a working-class military family, Dr. Shawna Patterson-Stephens tended to move around quite a bit as a youngster. She lived in California, Florida and overseas in Turkey before settling down in Detroit where she skipped her junior year of high school and graduated valedictorian of her class.
“I remember asking my mom as a kid, if she had put some money into savings for me to go to college, and she looked at me with indignance,” says Patterson-Stephens with a chuckle. “She said, ‘Girl, no. What are you talking about?’”
Thinking that she would follow in the footsteps of other family members, Patterson-Stephens was poised to join the military until her godmother disrupted those plans and insisted that she pursue a four-year college education. 
Dr. Shawna Patterson-Stephens
“She was very instrumental in my final decision-making because I was going to go into the Navy,” remembers Patterson-Stephens.
Now, with her sights set on attending a university, the question was which one, and how much money would they offer Patterson-Stephens so that she could attend?
“I remember riding the bus home from work one day and I saw someone with the Central Michigan University bumper sticker, and so I applied because I recognized the bumper sticker,” says Patterson-Stephens, who graduated in 2003 from CMU with a degree in sociology.
Nearly twenty years later, Patterson-Stephens returned to her alma mater in 2021 to become CMU’s Vice President for Inclusive Excellence and Belonging after honing her leadership skills at several other colleges and universities across the nation. She is the first Black woman to ever serve as a vice president at the university.
Reporting to CMU’s president, Patterson-Stephens currently serves as the senior diversity officer at the public, regional university. Over the past three years, she has spearheaded impressive initiatives at the university that now touts an enrollment of more than 14,000 students.
“As an institution, we are actually not a stranger to making sure that education is accessible,” says Patterson-Stephens, pointing out that CMU was one of the first institutions in the state of Michigan in the 1800s to provide educational support to the children of migrant workers.
Early on, the university welcomed Black students—several from families comprising the Old Settlers community—at a time when many colleges and universities were reluctant to do so.
“Many of those families still live here,” says Patterson-Stephens of the Black alumni. “Their children still go to this institution. They work here.”
One of those alums, Emma Norman Todd, was recently honored by the university with a lecture series named in her honor. Todd was one of the first Black students to attend the university located in Mount Pleasant, Michigan—about 150 miles from Detroit. After completing her studies in 1910, Todd taught in a single-room school in the Mid-Michigan community of Remus, where she was born. The lecture series celebrates Todd’s work as an educator and advocate for community and equality by bringing distinguished scholars in the fields of racial and social justice to campus to share their knowledge and experiences.
For a three-person department that is small but “mighty” as Patterson-Stephens calls it, she and her staff are busy setting strategy, programming and workshopping to support inclusive practices on campus. Patterson-Stephens work has focused on utilizing a data-informed approach by utilizing surveys, data collection and assessments to recommend suggestions. Patterson-Stephens guided the development of CMU’s first strategic plan for diversity since 2012 and reinstated the Faculty and Staff of Color Alliance, which had remained inoperable since 2013. The Alliance works to support faculty and staff recruitment and retention at the university. She also prioritized the development of the Queer/Trans Alliance, a newly developed affinity space for faculty and staff.
Engaging directly with students has been a highlight of Patterson-Stephens’ work.
“I try to make sure that people know who I am,” says Patterson-Stephens, who had to help quell tensions on campus after a spate of recent racist incidents led to campus protests. In April, videos circulated on social media showing CMU students using racial slurs. “I made sure I was available. I made sure I was there to problem solve.”
Making sure that all students feel safe has been an essential part of her work.
CMU’s work in creating an inclusive space for racially minoritized communities “wasn’t just something that was done because of a piece of legislation that came across somebody’s desk,” says Patterson-Stephens. “I’m not saying we didn’t have hardships, but it’s just people decide to make decisions around here before they were forced upon them.”
This past summer, CMU hosted its first Black alumni weekend and its diversity gala—now in its fourth year—and its diversity symposium—now in its tenth year—which draws a statewide audience.
Patterson-Stephens’ work has led to national recognition. Earlier this year, she was awarded the Bobby E. Leach Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion award from the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA).
“What is exceedingly rare about Dr. Patterson-Stephens’ career has been her contributions to the literature of student affairs and diversity as an administrator; most frequently focusing on her commitment to the access and success of students who have been historically underserved by higher education,” says Dr. Martino Harmon, vice president of student life at the University of Michigan. “She has demonstrated tireless professional service in complex administrative roles while maintaining an active research agenda.” 
Dr. Shawna Patterson-Stephens is a board member of the Dr. Melvin C. Terrell Education Foundation.
Harmon—who has known Patterson-Stephens across the years—points to her most recent book, Advancing Inclusive Excellence in Higher Education: Practical Approaches to Promoting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging, and her expertise in Black and Latinx issues in higher education, media influences in the postsecondary sector, and critical theory in higher educational contexts—as a scholar-practitioner on the rise. “Throughout her career, she continues to teach and she also serves as a mentor to several generations of students.”
After earning a master’s degree in student affairs administration from Michigan State University, Patterson-Stephens went on to Florida State University where she earned a Ph.D. and completed her dissertation under the guidance of Dr. Tamara Bertrand Jones.
After graduation, she held numerous student affairs positions at a number of colleges and universities including the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Williams College, the University of Pennsylvania, Penn State University and Michigan State University (MSU).
Her start in student affairs, however, began as a residence hall director—and later as a complex director at MSU—where she developed a deeper appreciation for the field of student affairs.
“That’s the place where I learned crisis management. I learned how to be a better professional, a better supervisor, more responsive, more empathetic and thoughtful,” says Patterson-Stephens. “I was not the most thoughtful when I first started, and thankfully, I had some people that stuck with me, in spite of my learning curve.”
What was clear back then was that, if Patterson-Stephens were to advance within the field, she would have to marry her experience with theoretical research.
“Her impressive career has been exemplary in its inclusiveness and enrichment of the academic and personal lives of students of color,” says Dr. Melvin Terrell, vice president emeritus at Northeastern Illinois University and the founder of the Melvin C. Terrell (MCT) Educational Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting excellence in student affairs. “She has demonstrated tireless professional service in complex administrative roles while maintaining a robust research agenda.”
Patterson-Stephens serves on the MCT board of directors.
For now, Patterson-Stephens says that she appreciates the many opportunities that she has to mentor students and help her alma mater advance forward.
“I just know that I want to make an impact in the most authentic and reciprocal way,” says Patterson-Stephens. “I don’t want to ever assume I know what’s best for a community. I want the community to speak to me.”
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