Headshot of Amy  Howard

Amy Howard

Senior Administrative Officer, Equity & Community
  • Profile
    As the Senior Administrative Officer for Equity & Community, Dr. Howard leads strategies to develop, integrate, and advance the alignment of the University of Richmond’s diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging goals and community engagement efforts for greater impact. Howard oversees the Equity & Community unit which includes the nationally recognized Bonner Center for Civic Engagement, external community relations, and the new Office for Institutional Equity and Inclusion. As a member of the President’s Cabinet, Howard works alongside senior leaders, the academic deans, the Inclusive Community Council (ICC), the DEIB Community of Practice group, the Board DEIB committee, and many others to collectively advance UR’s short- and long-range actions on the intersecting goals of representation, belonging, and capability. As the first SAO at UR, Dr. Howard brings experience connecting and catalyzing stakeholder groups to collaborate for culture change as the former AVP of Community Initiatives and the Bonner Center for Civic Engagement. Howard teaches community-based learning courses focused on the history of Richmond, Virginia and is the author of More than Shelter: Activism and Community in San Francisco Public Housing 1934-2000 (University of Minnesota, 2014), Engaging Place, Engaging Practices: Urban History and Campus-Community Collaboration, co-edited with Robin Bachin (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2022), The Making of 21st Century Richmond: Race, Politics, and Governance, co-authored with Thad Williamson and Julian Hayter (University of North Carolina Press, forthcoming, fall 2024) as well as articles on civic engagement and diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging in higher education.
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    • Presentations

      “Essential Engagement: Advancing the Public Purpose of Higher Education,” panel participant, Imagining America Gathering, October, 2023


      “Civic Participation, Democratic Deliberation, and Community Action: Advancing the Public Purpose of Higher Education” roundtable, American Association of Colleges and Universities annual conference, January 2023


      “Structures for Enacting Shared Equity Leadership,” American Council for Education, webinar with panel discussants, March 2022


      “Historicizing Richmond’s Future: UR Downtown and the Geography of Community Engagement” part of the “Urban History as Public History: Building Equity in Campus-Community Collaborations” panel, American Historical Association, New Orleans/virtual, February 2022


      “Shared Leadership in Higher Education: A Collective Approach to Solving Our Toughest Challenges,” panel presenter, American Association of Colleges and Universities, Washington, DC, January 2022


      “Distributed Leadership for Inclusive Excellence,” American Association of Colleges and Universities, Washington, DC, January 2020


      “Engaging Place: University of Richmond Downtown,” part of “Engaging Place: The Uses of Urban and Planning History and Civic Engagement in Community Development” panel, Society for American Regional and City Planning History, Cleveland, October 2017


      “The Liberal Arts Mind: Tools for the 21st Century and Global Contexts,” panel participant, AAC&U, January 2016


      “Planning History, Civic Engagement, and Influencing Social Change,” roundtable organizer and presenter, Society for American City and Regional Planning History, Los Angeles, November 2015


      “Civic Engagement and Community Development: University of Richmond Downtown and Liberal Arts in Place,” Urban History Association, October 2014


      “Legacies of Hope? The Remaking of San Francisco’s Public Housing,” Society for American City and Regional Planning History Conference, October 2013


      Invited Speaker, UR Leadership Summit, “Bringing Life to Learning:Student Engagement and Experiential Learning,” University of Richmond, Richmond, VA, November, 2012


      “This Bridge Called My Job: Translating, Re-valuing, and Leveraging Intermediary Administrative Work” panel presentation with Dr. Sylvia Gale, University of Richmond, Dr. Kevin Bott, Syracuse University, Dr. Miriam Bartha, University of Washington, Imagining America Conference, New York City, NY, October 2012


      Invited Speaker, “Engaging Richmond: The University of Richmond and Civic Engagement,” Short Pump Rotary Club, Richmond, VA, September 2012


      “Why Contemporary Richmond Is Not (But Should Be) A Progressive City,” co-presented with Dr. Thad Williamson, University of Richmond, Policy History Conference, Richmond, VA, June 2012

    • Community Service

      National

      • National Advisory Board, Imagining America, 2017-2023 
        • Strategic Planning Task Force, 2017-2018
        • Fundraising and Strategic Communications Committee, 2020-2023
      • Board, Society for American City and Regional Planning History

      Regional

      • Richmond Memorial Health Foundation, Board Member, 2023-present
      • Better Housing Coalition, Board Member, 2008-2016
      • City of Richmond Anti-Poverty Initiative Housing Task Force, Chair, 2013-2014
      • City of Richmond City Planning Commission, Richmond, VA 2009-2015
      • Better Housing Coalition, Strategic Planning Working Group, 2010–2015
      • Community Futures Foundation, Board Member, Richmond, VA, 2006-2008
      • Advisory Council, NextUp

  • Selected Publications
    Books

    The Making of 21st Century Richmond: Race, Politics, and Governance, co-authoring with Thad Williamson and Julian Hayter, forthcoming fall 2024, University of North Carolina Press.

    More than Shelter: Community and Activism in San Francisco Public Housing1938-2000 (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, April 2014)

    Engaging Place, Engaging Practices: Urban History and Campus-Community Collaboration, co-edited with Robin Bachin (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, in press, December, 2022).

    Journal Articles
    “Community Engagement Professionals at Play: Collaborative Assessment as Culture Change,” Co-authored with Terry Dolson and Sylvia Gale, Journal of Higher Education Engagement and Outreach, 23.1: 2019, 227-246.
    “Many Spiders, One Web: Distributing Leadership for Inclusive Excellence at the University of Richmond,” co-authored with Ashleigh M. Brock, Patricia Herrera and Glyn Hughes with Ronald A. Crutcher, Jeffrey Legro, and David Hale in Shared Leadership in Higher Education; Responding to a Changing World, edited by Judith Ramaley, Adrianna J. Kezar, Fran Elrod, and Elizabeth M. Holcombe, Stylus, December 2021.

    “Reframing public housing in Richmond, Virginia: Segregation, resident resistance and the future of redevelopment”, co-authored with Thad Williamson, Cities: The International Journal of Urban Policy and Planning, December 2015

    “This Bridge Called My Job: Translating, Re-valuing and Leveraging Intermediary Administrative Work,” Public, vol. 2, issue 2, 2015

    “Planning Note: Public Art, Public Housing, and Community,” Journal of the America Planning Association, special issue, “American Public Housing at 75: Policy, Planning, and the Public Good,” December 2012

    “People Power” co-authored with Thad Williamson, Style Weekly, July 2011

    “Another Kind of Giving,” co-authored with Sylvia Gale, Style Weekly, Giving, Summer 2010

    “Engaging the City: Civic Participation and Teaching Urban History,” Journal of Urban History, January 2010
    Book Chapters

    “Bringing Life to Learning: Civic Engagement, Intersections, and Transforming College Students,” co-authored with Juliette Landphair and Amanda Lineberry, in Intersectionality in Action: A Guide for Faculty and Campus Leaders for Creating Inclusive Classrooms and Institutions,edited by Brooke Barnett and Peter Felten, Stylus, 2016