Ann Casados-Mueller, the Desert Research Institute's director of recruitment and workplace diversity, has been selected to serve as UNLV's new director of diversity initiatives, according to Norval Pohl, UNLV vice president for finance and administration.
She will assume the duties of the newly created post March 1.
At UNLV Casados-Mueller will be responsible for planning, developing, and administering effective diversity programs for students, faculty, and staff; designing and conducting training relative to equal employment, sexual harassment, and discrimination issues; implementing and auditing reporting systems; and preparing compliance reports and the annual affirmative action plan. She will report to Pohl.
"Ann's primary responsibility will be to provide leadership in the creation of an inclusive campus culture, which is an important component of UNLV's 10-year strategic plan," Pohl said.
She will also be responsible for investigating and resolving complaints of discrimination and sexual harassment, as well as working with federal and state agencies on issues of discrimination.
"UNLV is fortunate to have hired Ann Casados-Mueller for this important position," UNLV President Carol C. Harter said. "Her many years of professional and public service experience in Southern Nevada will be a tremendous asset in our commitment to becoming a premier urban university and creating a truly diverse, just environment at UNLV."
Mueller, who has worked at DRI since 1991, served as the director of equal employment opportunity for the state of Nevada from 1989 to 1991. Previous to that, she worked for four years as advertising director at UNLV's Thomas and Mack Center, for a year as a reporter for the now-defunct The Valley Times newspaper, and for a year as an education specialist for the Nellis Air Force Base Education Center.
Mueller holds two degrees from UNLV - a bachelor's degree in communication studies and a master's degree in ethics and policy studies.
An active participant in community service, she is currently a board member of the Latin Chamber of Commerce and is the chair of the Female and Minority Student Science Coalition and the Mayor's Equal Employment Opportunity Advisory Board. She is also a member of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Civil Service Board.
Mueller, who was honored as one of the 1995 Distinguished Women of Southern Nevada, was the recipient of the Latin Chamber of Commerce Education Award and the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce Woman of Achievement Award in Business, both in 1983.
She was also listed in "Who's Who in Education" in 1996-97.