Dr. Malika Carter
Dr. Malika Carter, chief diversity officer at ESF, was honored for her contributions to the community during Juneteenth celebrations in Syracuse.
Carter was presented with the Harriet Tubman Freedom Fund Award during the Syracuse NAACP’s 42nd Annual Freedom Fund Virtual Dinner. The highest honor given by the organization, it is presented annually to an individual whose extraordinary leadership and efforts have contributed to eradicating racial injustice, promoting social equity, and advancing and improving the community at large.
Carter joined the ESF community in August 2017 as the College’s first chief diversity officer (CDO). She also served as the CDO for SUNY Upstate Medical University and is the chief executive officer of Passion4Pivot LLC, a social justice consulting firm. Before coming to ESF, she was the inaugural CDO for Worcester, Massachusetts.
“Dr. Carter’s work on behalf of ESF and the greater Syracuse community not only educates us all on how to be more inclusive but also inspires us to be the best we can be,” said ESF President Joanie Mahoney. “The Harriet Tubman Freedom Fund Award is a well-deserved honor.”
Carter developed much of her work ethic and passion for social justice growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, and spending her summers in Arkansas and Mississippi visiting family.
“The South has a different flavor than the North,” Carter said, “so there are some things I saw that really opened my eyes to the differences between these places and also to the different shades of behavior and the different types of language that people use to refer to things like justice or equity or diversity or inclusion or exclusion.”