Bettina Byrd-Giles Named Director of Crossroads Community Center at UA

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Bettina Byrd-Giles has been named director of the Crossroads Community Center at The University of Alabama. The newly created position will provide campus leadership and oversight in the areas of cultural programming, diversity education and student involvement.

The Crossroads Community Center was established this fall to assist student organizations with multicultural issues and facilitate coordination of multicultural programs on campus. It is part of a collaborative effort of the UA divisions of student affairs, community affairs and academic affairs to meet needs identified last year by the University’s Multicultural Center Task Force.

Byrd-Giles comes to UA from the University of Alabama at Birmingham where she has been program director for Diversity UAB in the Office of Cultural Diversity and Career Development since 2000. Her UA appointment begins Nov. 1.

“We believe that the Crossroads Community Center will help to create a better sense of community among our students by facilitating more student-to-student contact around issues of student governance, leadership, civic responsibility and culture. Ms. Byrd-Giles brings extensive experience and expertise to this position,” said Dr. Samory Pruitt, UA vice president for community affairs.

Dr. Margaret King, vice president for student affairs, chaired the Multicultural Center Task Force. “Bettina Byrd-Giles is exceptionally well qualified to manage the campuswide collaborative work that we expect from the Crossroads Community Center,” she said.

As program director for Diversity UAB, Byrd-Giles developed curricula for intercultural communications training, provided intercultural training courses, mediated issues involving cross-cultural conflict within the university, researched issues involving international and domestic diversity, and developed programs of an intercultural nature.

Byrd-Giles’ experience at UAB also includes serving as program coordinator for the Office of the Associate Vice President for Human Resource Management, assistant director of student programs and coordinator of student programs.

She is also founder and director of Diversity University, a program designed to unite students from six local colleges and universities in the Birmingham area. Diversity University initiates dialog, discussion and programs to develop socially aware and responsible global citizens.

A consultant and community activist, Byrd-Giles has provided intercultural training programs, seminars and workshops for organizations with a diverse workforce or customer base. She has also provided organizational assessments to assist organizations in identifying areas of strength and areas in need of improvement.

Byrd-Giles earned her bachelor’s degree in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia in 1989 and her master’s degree in education from UAB in 1995. She holds an Intercultural Foundations and Intercultural Practitioner’s Certificate from the Intercultural Communications Institute in Portland, Ore.