Shawntal Brown

Shawntal Z. Brown (she/her/hers) is a part-time doctoral student in the Higher Education in Leadership Program at UT Austin. She anticipates that her research will focus on analyzing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at universities and colleges. She is interested in the conceptual framework of diversity dishonesty as she inquires if universities are adequately supporting DEI initiatives.

Currently, she is a senior outreach coordinator for Inclusive Campus Support in the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement. In her role, she supports departments and colleges in their pursuits to develop equitable environments for their students, staff, and faculty to thrive and succeed. Previously, she was a student program coordinator in the Equal Opportunity in Engineering Program at the Cockrell School of Engineering. As a higher ed professional, she is passionate about supporting college students throughout their collegiate experience. She has experience working alongside underrepresented students at the university, including LGBTQIA+, women, students of color, and first-generation college student populations.

She enjoys taking the initiative to develop new programming and activities to better connect with prospective students, current students, and alumni. She has coordinated recruitment events with 100+ prospective students in attendance and developed new marketing techniques to better engage with student populations. She has facilitated courses focused on undergraduate research and first-year exploration and developed new curricula for her courses to better support the students she teaches. Shawntal values intentional connections with students, faculty, and staff and feedback to improve her leadership skills.