Ame Lambert, Ph.D.

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Ame Lambert, Ph.D.

Vice President of Equity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer — Roger Williams University

Dr. Ame Lambert serves as Vice President of Equity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer for Roger Williams University.  Lambert leads the embedding of equity into all university operations and the efforts to support the thriving of minoritized students and employees.  With her aim to close the gap between potential and thriving, she helps both people and organizations BE-COME. 

Evaluation data from initiatives launched during her tenure show an impact on 1st-year student retention, academic success, and climate and an increase in the yield on faculty of color hires, as well as the launching and empowerment of a successful women’s employee initiative, pro-equity policies, and practices.

Before RWU, Lambert served at Champlain college for seven years as the inaugural chief diversity officer, and prior to that, senior director of institutional diversity.  Lambert led the process for creating and implementing a strategic plan that produced measurable results in the areas of student retention and success, employee access and success, and equity-driven policies and practices.  

Lambert serves as chair of the pre-conference committee for the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, for which she designed the institute for new chief diversity officers at the annual conference. Her interdisciplinary lens enables her to integrate the best of disparate disciplines, such as organization development, neuroscience, education, and intercultural communication, in the creation of complex responses to complex human challenges. 

As a bi-cultural immigrant black woman, Lambert believes the answer is often and/and rather than either/or.  Lambert is a confirmed introvert and loves nothing better than a long snuggle with her spirited and smart five-year-old child.