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Ariane White, an expert in facilitating restorative practices and a longtime antiracist educator and community-builder with two decades of experience, has been named director of organizational culture, equity, diversity and inclusion at UCLA Library, effective November 6. The appointment was made by Ginny Steel, the Norman and Armena Powell University Librarian.
In this newly created role, White will lead the Library's strategic priorities to transform the organization’s culture, fostering community-building, equity, diversity and respect. Her stewardship includes providing leadership for antiracism efforts that span all aspects of the Library, developing new policies and practices that inspire meaningful organizational change, and working collaboratively both within the Library and across campus in order to address inequities in areas including recruitment, retention, equitable compensation, and to provide professional development and training opportunities for Library staff.
“I am honored to serve as the inaugural director of organizational culture, equity, diversity and inclusion at UCLA Library,” White said. “The Library’s commitment to these values provides an essential foundation toward stewarding the development of a restorative, antiracist culture. I look forward to collaborating in this work with an incredible team of librarians and staff as well as with campus partners.”
White joins UCLA from Loyola Marymount University, where she most recently held a dual appointment: she was the inaugural director of the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Center Alliance, a position that was created as part of LMU’s Antiracism Project, and she served as the university’s ombuds. As director, White was responsible for helping to transform campus culture through dialogue and humanization. Her work included convening and facilitating workshops that addressed organizational culture and equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) issues, co-founding and facilitating an antiracist affinity group space for white faculty and staff, and coaching and supporting a team of facilitators to conduct EDI workshops. As LMU’s ombuds, White provided independent, impartial and confidential resources and one-on-one coaching to faculty and staff as well as facilitation of restorative processes for groups. She previously served as the supervisor and coordinator of clinical fieldwork in LMU’s School of Education, in the teacher preparation program.
“In this time of needed change at UCLA Library, I am confident that Dr. White is uniquely suited to nurture and coordinate the Library’s efforts to lead with equity, diversity and inclusion as we seek to transform these values into reality,” Steel said. “Dr. White’s experience has included comprehensive research, two decades as an equity-focused educator, and work transforming institutional culture through community-based programs, as well as her own work as an active ally.”
Among her publications are “White People Working to End White Supremacy: The Purpose and Practice of a Campus-Based White Anti-Racist Affinity Group,” to be published as part of an edited volume entitled: Toward Abolishing White Supremacy On Campus and “Transformative School-Community-Based Restorative Justice: An Inquiry Into Practitioners' Experiences,” ProQuest Dissertations (2019). She recently participated on a restorative justice in schools panel at the Wilmette Institute, Los Angeles, and has presented on a number of topics ranging from restorative practices for the classroom and office hours to identity and community, and generative conflict.
White is a founding member of the Southern California Restorative Justice Consortium, established in 2020. She serves as a workshop facilitator for the Alternative to Violence Project, since 2015; a council facilitator for Council In Schools/Ojai Foundation, since 2012; and she has served various roles with AWARE-LA–the Alliance for White Anti-Racists Everywhere-Los Angeles–including co-coordinator, Restorative Culture Team, and facilitator for Unmasking Whiteness Summer Institute and for Saturday Dialogue, beginning in 2008.
She earned her B.A. in Chinese language and literature, with a minor in Spanish language and literature, from Middlebury College, a M.Ed. from the Institute for Human Education, and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership for Social Justice from Loyola Marymount University, where her research focused on restorative justice in schools.
Steel also acknowledged the important work that has already been accomplished: “I want to recognize and thank the Library’s Anti-Racist Initiative (opens in a new tab)Steering Team and Project Teams, our EDI representatives and the entire Library community for the exemplary progress that has been made since 2020. This work provides a solid foundation for Ariane to use as she guides our continued EDI efforts at UCLA Library.”
“It is through the depth of our relationships with each other that organizational change becomes possible,” White said. “I can’t wait to get to know all my new colleagues and I look forward to supporting this next phase of culture-building work.”
