Dr. Yvette M. Alex-Assensoh is an award-winning researcher, university professor, equity strategist as well as a member of the Oregon and Indiana State Bar Associations, Leadership Consultant, Certified Coach, Workshop Facilitator and Keynote Speaker. She has, over the last 25 years, delivered results in higher education, with non-profits and faith-based organizations as well as for individuals across America, in Africa, Asia and Europe. Her life-long belief in the power of unconditional love, as actualized in L.A.C.E., is the driving force behind how she conducts research, teaches, leads and coaches.
Currently based at the University of Oregon, Dr. Alex-Assensoh leads the university’s equity and anti-racism strategic planning as well as implementation work, coupled with the development of institutional policies, coordination of research and evaluation infrastructure for equity and inclusion work, coordination of pipeline programs, provision of organizational leadership to units within the Division of Equity and Inclusion (DEI), while also leading innovative initiatives focused on equity and inclusion. In partnership with her DEI team and the broader campus, VP Alex-Assensoh played a leading role in the designing and the implementation of the campus-wide IDEAL framework, which created award-winning inclusion programs, which have led to the garnering of national awards. Her work has been referenced in varied sources, including The New York Times, Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed., and Diverse Issues in Higher Education. Apart from serving as a full Professor in the Political Science Department, Dr. Alex-Assensoh also teaches in the Knight School of Law as an adjunct. In her capacity as a certified coach, she designed high-impact coaching programs for diverse UO populations.
Prior to joining the University of Oregon, Dr. Alex-Assensoh served as a tenured full Professor of Political Science and a Dean at Indiana University’s flagship Bloomington campus. She has won outstanding research awards as well as secured funding from the National Science Foundation, American Council on Education, Council for the International Exchange of Scholars, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine(Ford Dissertation Fellowship), served as a Fulbright Scholar at University of Zagreb in Croatia and also led national professional committees focusing on issues of equity, diversity, teaching excellence and ethics. In addition to being an internationally-recognized public speaker, she is also the author/co-author of five books, dozens of scholarly essays, book chapters and numerous published journalistic/trade essays.
Dr. Alex-Assensoh and her husband of 26 years (Indiana University Emeritus Professor A.B. Assensoh) are parents of two young adult sons (Kwadwo Stephen Alex-Assensoh and Livingston Alex Kwabena Assensoh). A native of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, USA, she enjoys volunteering, reading young adult and Christian fiction, playing board games and entertaining friends with African and Louisiana-flavored cuisine.