Molly Tovar, EdD, former director of leadership for the Bill & Melinda Gates Millennium Scholars Program, has been appointed director of the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work.
“We are excited to have Dr. Tovar join Washington University,” said Edward F. Lawlor, PhD, dean of the Brown School and the William E. Gordon Distinguished Professor. “Her life’s work has been dedicated to American Indians, from advancing educational opportunities and supports for success to bringing leadership on issues related to cultural competency, diversity and cross-cultural understanding.”
Tovar, both of Native American and Hispanic descent, earned a doctorate in higher education and administration from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Okla., where she later was the director of student academic services for the graduate college. She is a consultant focusing on developing leadership skills in academic and corporate communications.
As director, Tovar will lead and provide strategic direction for the Buder Center and advance the center’s goals to educate and train health and human services professionals who want to work in Indian Country. Tovar also will work to advance a robust research agenda and new knowledge creation to inform practice and policy that impacts Indian Country.
“I am interested in this position because of the opportunity to make an impact at a very distinguished institution,” Tovar said. “To have the opportunity to build on the nationally known programs of the Buder Center is invigorating. It is an honor to create, support, promote and celebrate Washington University’s success by leading the continued development of the center.”
Tovar also will collaborate on special projects that advance leadership capacity and diversity on campus as they relate to the provost office’s diversity work group findings and recommendations.
“I look forward to having Molly Tovar at Washington University,” said Provost Edward S. Macias, PhD, executive vice chancellor for academic affairs and the Barbara and David Thomas Distinguished Professor of Arts & Sciences. “She has a wonderful set of experiences that will help us in carrying out our plans to diversify all parts of the university.”
Prior to her work with the Bill & Melinda Gates Millennium Scholars Program, Tovar was the chief operating officer for the American Indian Graduate Center and director of the Gates Millennium Scholars Program for American Indian/Alaska Natives in Albuquerque, N.M., from 2001-06. She served as associate vice provost for student services at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center from 1999-2001.
Tovar is nationally recognized for her expertise in strategies for ensuring the success of underrepresented students in undergraduate and graduate education. She is a member of a number of state and national committees on education, including the Council of Graduate Schools Advisory Committee on Minorities, and is on the board of directors for the New Mexico Southwest Youth Services Council and on the education committee of the Red Earth Museum in Oklahoma City.
Outside of her work in higher education, Tovar works with the indigenous women in the tropical villages of Panama and is working on a book, The Entrepreneur’s Spirit: American Indian Women Entrepreneurs’ Edition.
She was selected as a Leadership Foundation Fellow of the International Women’s Forum, a National Hispanic Scholar and a recipient of the Outstanding Oklahoma Native American Leadership Award, among many other accolades.