Kevin W. Bailey, an Indiana University of Pennsylvania 2019 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient and vice chancellor for student affairs at UNC Charlotte, was honored by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education with the Keepers of the Flame Award for his longstanding contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts during the 2024 PASSHE Summit: Uniting for Inclusive Student Success.
The PASSHE Summit was held at Millersville University of Pennsylvania on October 28 and 29. The Keepers of the Flame Award recognizes an individual from each of the State System university campuses for their contributions to creating and promoting diverse, equitable, and inclusive environments that cultivate a sense of belonging.
Bailey is a highly regarded educator who began his career in student affairs at UNC Charlotte in 1990 and returned to campus as vice chancellor for student affairs in 2017.
“It was an honor and privilege to nominate Dr. Bailey for this prestigious award,” IUP Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer and Title IX Coordinator Elise Glenn said. “He continues to be a tireless advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion and is a role model for students at his university and for students and alumni at IUP,” she said.
Bailey earned a bachelor’s degree in management information systems and master’s degree in student affairs in higher education from IUP in 1986 and 1990, respectively. He obtained his doctor of philosophy in higher education administration from Bowling Green State University.
In his current role, Bailey provides leadership for student success initiatives focused on the broad themes of health and wellbeing, on and off-campus living partnerships, student advocacy and compliance, student facility management, program assessment, and student engagement.
He has worked to support campus programs addressing food insecurity, emergency housing, financial literacy and equity and justice training for staff, while building cross-divisional partnerships with the divisions of academic and business affairs.
Bailey also serves as the chief student advocate, providing advice and counsel to various undergraduate and graduate student leaders and working to ensure that a diversity of student perspectives are considered in the university-wide governance structure, policy development, and strategic change process.
Over his 30 years in higher education, Bailey served as vice president for student affairs at the University of West Florida in Pensacola and associate vice president for student affairs at Tulane University. He also held leadership and teaching positions at Millersville University of Pennsylvania, Bowling Green State University, and IUP.
He is an active leader in the Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, serving as the chair of the one-hundredth anniversary NASPA conference held in Philadelphia in 2018.
Bailey's involvement with IUP includes membership on the Alumni Association Board of Directors, chair of the Young Alumni and Student Engagement Committee for the Alumni Association, membership in the Black Engagement Alumni Committee, and membership in the African American Scholarship Committee.
He is the 2009 IUP Department of Student Affairs in Higher Education Ronald Lunardini Distinguished Alumni Award recipient.
Members of the IUP community who participated as presenters for the 2024 Summit included Roger Briscoe II, IUP executive director of student inclusion, who presented “Empowering Student Success: Engaging Multicultural, Underrepresented, and Nonresidential Students Through Data-Driven Initiatives in PASSHE”; and students Erika Jackson and Monserrat Lopez Villagomez, president of the IUP Latino Student Organization, presenting “Uniting Through Culture: How Student-Led Programming Led to 200+ Attendees.”
Keepers of the Flame Award recipients may be students, staff, faculty, administrators, or community members. They are members of the university who inspire others, engage in collaboration, and enact positive change. The annual award began in 2022.
“The Keepers of the Flame Award honors members of the PASSHE community for contributions to the success of everyone at our universities and always striving to make our campuses welcoming places for everyone,” said Denise Pearson, vice chancellor and chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer at the Office of the Chancellor.
“We celebrate and honor each of these recipients who have shown time and again that a commitment to academic excellence, DEI, and student success can open doors of opportunity and strengthen each of our university communities.”
Charlene Mickens Dukes, a 1980 graduate of IUP and a 2008 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient, was honored with the 2023 Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Keepers of the Flame Award.
Dukes is the first female president of Prince George's Community College, with the main campus in Largo, MD, and five degree and extension locations: Joint Base Andrews, University Town Center, Laurel College Center, and the Skilled Trades Center. She was named to the position in 2007 and served in that role until her retirement from the presidency in 2020 and holds the title of president emerita. She recently served as interim president of Montgomery College. She was unanimously voted president of the Maryland State Board of Education after having served two terms as vice chair.
Debra Evans Smith, a 1981 IUP criminology graduate who received the university’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2022, is the inaugural Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Keepers of the Flame award recipient. Smith retired from the FBI after a 30-year, award-winning career.
Smith is vice president of the IUP Alumni Association Board of Directors and is a member of the Black Experience Alumni Committee. She has made numerous presentations to IUP students and staff over the years, including serving on the Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity in a Professional Workplace panel discussion held in March 2021 and speaking during an event for students after the Derek Chauvin verdict.
Smith was one of the first 50 black female FBI agents in the 1980s. A “spy chaser” for most of her career, she won top honors for her role in such cases, including the case of Robert Hanssen. Smith received the Attorney General Award for Intelligence and the United States Attorney’s Award for her role in this major espionage investigation. She also received the National Intelligence Community Certificate of Distinction for her role in a national security matter.
After retirement, she returned to the FBI and managed a priority initiative under directors James Comey and Christopher Wray to address what had been the bureau’s inadequate record on diversity, equity, and inclusion. She also cochairs the Minority Inclusion: Reevaluating Real Opportunities Responsibly Project, a grass-roots strategy developed by a group of retired special agents who are concerned with racial disparities within the FBI.