Fall surrounds the Memorial Belltower. PHOTO BY ROGER WINSTEAD

Reggie Barnes is NC State’s new senior director over four campus community centers: the African American Cultural Center, GLBT Center, Multicultural Student Affairs and the Women’s Center. Barnes will also convene the university’s bias incident response team.

Barnes has twenty years of professional experience in various areas of higher education administration, organizational management consulting and athletic coaching. During his career in higher education, he worked in athletic administration, service-learning, admissions, academic advising, Greek Life and leadership development. He has also spent over 11 years in the area of diversity and inclusion, most recently at Eastern Michigan University, where he served as director of diversity and community involvement. In this capacity, he provided strategic leadership for four programming offices and several institutional initiatives.

One of his important accomplishments was Eastern Michigan’s BrotherHOOD Initiative, (Helping Others Obtain Degrees), a multi-faceted university-wide program designed to engage and foster a stronger sense of community for men of color. Through collaborative partnerships with offices across campus, this research-driven, strengths-based program provides valuable academic support, personal and professional development and mentorship opportunities designed to help students persist to graduation and prepare them to be successful when they leave. In 2015, the program was recognized by the White House’s My Brother’s Keeper Initiative as a best practice in higher education. Both the BrotherHOOD and subsequent SisterHOOD Initiatives are part of the university’s Student of Color Degree Completion and Retention Plan, which Barnes also helped develop.

Having spent most of his professional career in New York City and Michigan, Barnes has managed complex organizations, established best practices and high professional standards, offered vision for implementing equity and diversity initiatives, increased capacity to create positive institutional change and developed strategic approaches to address widespread student concerns and campus climate issues.

Barnes is a native of North Carolina and a former NC State student-athlete, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in mass communication with a minor in music studies in 1996. He also completed his Master of Education degree in student development practices in higher education from St. John’s University in Queens, NY. He is a member of the National Association for Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) and the American College Personnel Association (ACPA).