CBCSA director leaves USC, to join Stanford


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Rosalind Conerly will join Stanford University as the new associate dean of students. and director of the black community services center. (Photo courtesy of Rosalind Conerly)

After working at the Center of Black Cultural and Student Affairs, for seven years, Director Rosalind Conerly will be leaving USC. Her last day at USC will be March 1.

“My time at USC has been truly life changing,” Conerly wrote in an email to CBCSA members. “And that is mostly due to the relationships I have been able to establish with students and colleagues over the years. You, in some way, have helped shape my experience, so thank you.”

Conerly will take on a new role at Stanford University in June, where she will serve as the associate dean of students and director of the Black Community Services Center. She also plans to expand her role as a consultant in Palo Alto. During her time at USC, Rosalind assisted employers with finding effective recruitment strategies and integrating professionals from marginalized communities to predominantly white institutions.

“I will be doing similar work, really overseeing a lot of the operations and vision planning,” she said in an interview with the Daily Trojan. “I will be managing a lot more people and initiatives.”

As the associate dean of students, her work will primarily focus on serving the black community at Stanford. She will also be working closely with their Black Alumni Association. Her first event will be the Stanford Black Alumni Summit in Hollywood, where she will introduce herself to BAA alumni and begin to transition into her new role.

Conerly became the CBCSA director in late 2016, having previously served as assistant director under former director Corliss Bennett. Conerly also served as an adjunct assistant professor at the Rossier School of Education while conducting research on how scholar practitioners oversee various cultural centers and how these centers help students of color. She received her doctorate in education from Rossier in 2016.

“One of my top highlights [at USC] was our 40th anniversary,” she said. “Being able to celebrate and acknowledge the narratives of the students, the alumni that are now attached to CBCSA … it really made me reflect on understanding why this space is here and to see how it’s evolved.”  

Conerly said she promises to stay connected and involved in USC campus life and events. Over her two-year tenure as CBCSA director, she mentored and engaged with students of color and helped create inclusion workshops around campus.

“She is sweet and a great leader,” said JaBrea Patterson-West, a junior majoring in French and art history. “She was always supportive of [the Black Student Assembly’s] e-board and was an important mentor and communicator of student needs, not just in the black community but [to] all cultural centers.”  

Prior to her departure, Conerly wanted to ensure that CBCSA had structures in place that would remain long after she left. She said she has focused her time on creating a safe, empowering space for students that would inspire them, and she hopes the University will take advantage of the increased calls for diversity and inclusion on campus and strengthen relationships with culture groups on campus.

“As our community grows, as our initiatives change, students need change,” she said. “I’m going to miss USC, there is definitely an energy on this campus … It’s something in the air here that really makes you excited to be here and to be a part of this Trojan Family.”