Speakers
Dr. Robiaun Charles is the Associate Vice President and Executive Director of Development for the Division of Diversity and Community Engagement (DDCE). In this role, she provides strategic leadership for fostering relationships and securing philanthropic support for DDCE.
Charles has almost 20 years of combined experience in development, marketing and communications and diversity. She served as the Director of Annual Giving and Development Services and the Associate Director of Gift Planning at the University of Evansville. Additionally, while the Director of Development and Major Gifts for Johnson C. Smith University she was named a Kresge Foundation Advancement Fellow. Other related professional experience includes employment with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Atlanta.
Before joining UT Austin, she served as the Special Assistant to the President and Chief Diversity Officer at the University of Evansville. Charles was the founding board president of the Evansville Diversity Lecture Series, a collective impact initiative between members of government, education and business sectors. Currently she serves on the board of trustees for Salem College and Academy in Winston-Salem, NC and the board of directors for the Greater Austin Black Chamber of Commerce in Austin, TX.
A native of Atlanta, GA, Charles earned her BA in philosophy from Rollins College, her MPA from The Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University, and her PhD in higher education leadership and policy from Peabody College at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN.