Hadley S. Camilus

Associate Dean of Multicultural Affairs
Appointed
2016
Hadley Camilus

The schoolyard conflicts of my childhood have given way to a life of work around diversity, equity and inclusion.

Education

B.A. Clark University

Biography

Schoolyard. Race. Ethnicity. Harassment. Adult bystanders. … A combustible mix.

I am a Black man, born in the United States, whose parents hail from Haiti. Race and ethnicity have factored significantly in conflicts that I encountered and witnessed in school as early as kindergarten. I was 5 years old, and the only Black boy in my class, when I was unsuspectingly jumped one morning by three white boys who were my kindergarten classmates. A few years later, as an 8-year-old, I fought regularly in the schoolyard with African-American boys who picked on the Haitian boys who were in the English as a Second Language (ESL) program. At every turn, the adults just let it happen.

I come into my role as Associate Dean of Multicultural Affairs passionate about bringing people together because of those experiences, and many others, yet understanding that unity can’t truly occur unless everybody in a community has a voice. The support of different people over the years encouraged me to develop my own voice and channel my energy into activism as a college student. Beyond my undergraduate years, I sought career avenues that have allowed me to empower young people to find and use their own voices.

I started my career at a non-profit organization in Worcester as a student development specialist, helping first-generation/low income students navigate an array of issues in high school and access higher education. Thereafter, I transitioned to Clark University where I coordinated institutional efforts to recruit a more racially diverse class while infusing interculturalism into our recruitment lexicon. In that role, I also co-founded a student leadership conference that is still in existence today, where issues of identity and inclusion are regularly explored.

More recently, I worked for 11 years in admissions at a community college. In that role, I helped to boost enrollment significantly for nearly a decade while spearheading early college awareness programming in local middle schools and coordinating STEM recruitment. Concurrently, I devised a course on “Critical Thinking through Film” at a summer enrichment program in the community, and provided guidance to young men of color through mentoring programs on different college campuses.

The schoolyard conflicts of my childhood have given way to a life of work around diversity, equity and inclusion in very different settings. I look forward to empowering students at PEA to find and utilize their voices while building bridges in the process.