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The Association of Chief Human Resource Officers/Equal Employment Officers (ACHRO/EEO) presented Irma Ramos, Vice Chancellor of Human Resources at the North Orange County Community College District (NOCCCD), with the inaugural Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Champion Award on October 27, 2022.
Ms. Ramos received the DEI Champion Award for her service on the Chancellor’s Office statewide Vision for Success DEI Taskforce and DEI Implementation Workgroup. The Taskforce identified strategies to increase the racial and ethnic diversity of the California community college workforce and the Workgroup was formed to mobilize these strategies and to advance equitable and inclusive hiring and retention practices across the system.
NOCCCD Chancellor Clift Breland said, “Throughout her extensive career in higher education, Vice Chancellor Ramos has advanced a community of inclusive excellence, where diversity, equity, and inclusion opportunities create a welcoming environment that have served to cultivate the foundation for success for everyone.”
“I was one of seven kids from a hard-working, immigrant family,” said Ms. Ramos, “and I went to a school where no teacher looked like me and where no one had any expectations of me – nobody said, Irma, go to college, you can do this! I had decided to make something of myself though, I went to college and after graduating, I started working in Higher Ed. A decade later, I was promoted to head an HR organization within the community college system. I had worked hard, but I had also met a few people who were kind and giving and wanted to see me succeed.
But to help the new generations overcome their struggles and achieve their dreams, we can’t simply rely on others’ kindness; we must advocate, champion, and mentor; and we must create structures and enact policies around DEI, which will increase the diversity of our faculty and staff for the benefit of our students, which are the reason our institutions exist.
Just as no one would have thought that this shy girl from La Puente would be serving as the first Latina Vice Chancellor of Human Resources for NOCCCD, there are so many students today who with our help can achieve their dreams.”
