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Retchenda George Bettisworth appointed as UAF Chief Diversity Faculty Fellow

January 12, 2024

Retchenda George Bettisworth has been appointed as the UAF Chief Diversity Faculty Fellow. The role of Chief Diversity Faculty Fellow is to advise the Chancellor on UAF’s strategic goal to promote a culture of diversity, inclusion, respect and caring. In this position, George Bettisworth will focus on collaboration, training, advocacy and policy development. This position is a two-year appointment with the opportunity for term-renewal.

Retchenda George Bettisworth, DSW, MSW is a Clinical Professor of Social Work and Statewide Rural Cohort Coordinator. She has worked in the field of social work for over 20 years focused in the area of child welfare, work-force retention, and social work education and administration.

She has served on a variety of committees focused on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility within the UA system, including DEIA Climate Survey Planning Committee and Co-PI for DEIA Climate Survey; Decolonizing Pedagogy Steering Committee; SP-IE Curricular Responsiveness-DEI committee; and the UA Foundation Meaningful DEI Working Group. She has also served on national groups focused on diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, to include Critical Race Scholars in Social Work; and a member of the Council on Social Work Education’s Council on Racial, Ethnic, and Cultural Diversity.

George Bettisworth received her Doctorate in Social Work from St. Catherine University-University of St. Thomas focusing on cultural competence in social work education and her Master of Social Work from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.