KINGSTON, R.I., March 15, 2017 — A University of Rhode Island faculty member has been named a 2018 Pillar of the Profession by the leading national association for student affairs professionals.

NASPA: Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education honored Annemarie Vaccaro, associate professor of Human Development and Family Studies in the College of Health Sciences, part of the Academic Health Collaborative, at its annual conference earlier this month in Philadelphia.

The NASPA Foundation recognizes higher education professionals who have made outstanding contributions to the field of student affairs and to the professional organization. Pillars are nominated by colleagues, students or others with knowledge of their sustained leadership and commitment to the field.

“I am honored to have been selected for this highly prestigious professional award. I am also humbled to be part of a group of incredible Pillars from across the nation whose work I have admired throughout my career,” Vaccaro said. “I owe much of my success to supportive mentors, supervisors and educational trailblazers who came before me. As a Pillar, I will continue to support, and hopefully inspire, emerging educators who come after me.”

Vaccaro, who also serves as graduate program director for URI’s College Student Personnel Program, began her professional career as a student affairs practitioner, working largely in residence life, living and learning, and service-learning offices. While she enjoyed being a scholar-practitioner, she said she has found her calling as a faculty member in a student affairs program.

Her qualitative scholarship examines social justice issues in higher education and has been published in a number of higher education and human development journals. Since 2012, she has also co-authored three books: “Safe Spaces: Making Schools and Communities Welcoming to LGBT Youth,” “Decisions Matter: Using a Decision Making Framework with Contemporary Student Affairs Case Studies,” and “Centering Women of Color in Academic Counterspaces: A Critical Race Analysis of Teaching, Learning and Classroom Dynamics.”

Vaccaro is committed to enacting social justice and inclusion in her research, teaching and service. Sought after for her expertise in this area, she has developed and delivered workshops at several universities to help faculty become more inclusive educators. “I deeply enjoy this faculty-developer leadership role and hope my efforts make a difference in the lives of undergraduate and graduate students that I may never have the opportunity to meet personally,” she said.

Vaccaro remains committed to supporting the next generation of scholar-practitioners far beyond the boundaries of the master’s program she oversees. To that end, Vaccaro serves both formal and informal mentor roles for emerging professionals, experienced faculty and doctoral students in various departments at URI and higher education institutions across the nation.