Director
Academic Diversity Outreach, College of Education, Health and Human Services
Kent Campus
Daniel Diaz Nilsson has firmly established a record that resonates “Students First” and advances the university’s reach to populations traditionally underserved, engages community partners in ways that improve their lives and opportunities and proactively works to build and ensure a campus climate of inclusion. Nilsson created and runs the BRIDGES program for EHHS, which supports first-generation college students of historically underrepresented groups and includes a 5-week residential component in the summer for students. Academic coaching, mentoring, social justice, and anti-racism work infuse every facet of Nilsson’s work, including at more than 750 high schools. He has forged partnerships with Akron Public Schools, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, Kent City Schools (and many others) to build and maintain pipeline initiatives for high school students from underrepresented and first-generation backgrounds.
One of the highlights of Nilsson’s accomplishments at Kent State, includes co-chairing the 2019 Ohio Latino Education Summit, which was the largest in the state and attended by more than 500 participants, of which 115 were high schoolers. Partnering with the Ohio Department of Education, Ohio Latino Affairs Commission, and various regional community colleges, the theme of the summit was Inspiring ReSilience: Equity, Partnerships and Quality Schools. His accomplishments have not gone unnoticed in the larger community, having earned him the prestigious Inspiring Programs in STEM Award for 2020 by INSIGHT into Diversity Magazine.