Diane Hernon Chavis

Diane Hernon Chavis, director of the YWCA Greater Pittsburgh Center for Race Relations and Anti-Racism Training and a member of the YWCA Greater Pittsburgh Senior Management Team, has been named assistant vice chancellor for executive communications in the University of Pittsburgh’s Office of Public Affairs.

Her appointment, effective April 15, was announced by Robert Hill, Pitt vice chancellor for public affairs.

Chavis will support the communications efforts of Pitt senior officials and complete other high-level writing projects to articulate key messages for the University. She will guide a range of executive-level communications, including essays, reports, and articles.

“Diane Hernon Chavis is one of the leading citizens of Western Pennsylvania,” Hill said. “Her work has helped change the region and improve its attitude toward race. I’ve had the opportunity to witness her passion for that which is just. She possesses superior communications skills, and I know that the Office of Public Affairs is fortunate to have Diane on Pitt’s senior communications leadership team.”

“I am honored to join the University of Pittsburgh community,” said Chavis. “In many ways, it feels like coming home. I received my undergraduate and graduate degrees from Pitt in the 1980s, and my education has served me well. It has opened doors of opportunity, including this most recent appointment as assistant vice chancellor for executive communications. I am truly delighted to ‘come home’ to a community of excellence.”

Chavis has directed the YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh’s Center for Race Relations and Anti-Racism Training since 1998. She also has served as a member of the YWCA Greater Pittsburgh Senior Management Team, writing executive communications and articulating key messages for the YWCA, as well as participating in the development and implementation of YWCA policies and procedures. In addition, Chavis chairs the YWCA Greater Pittsburgh Advocacy and Public Policy Committee and the YWCA of the USA Mid-Atlantic Region Advocacy Committee.

Since 1999, Chavis also has been an adjunct faculty member in Pitt’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.

Before joining the YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh, Chavis was, from 1987 to 1996, an attorney with Tucker Arensberg, P.C., in Pittsburgh, concentrating on employment law and commercial litigation. She was a teaching fellow in Pitt’s School of Law from 1985 to 1987.

Chavis received the Juris Doctorate degree, with honors in writing and research, from the Pitt law school in 1987. Three years before that, she graduated summa cum laude from Pitt with the Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature, with a minor in women’s studies.

Her extensive leadership and service experience includes serving as a member of the American Civil Liberties Union’s board of directors and Pennsylvania affirmative action policy and development committees, a member of the North Hills Community Outreach board of directors and strategic planning and board development committees, and a member and cofounder of the North Hills Multicultural Consortium.

Among the honors Chavis has received are the Susan B. Anthony Women of Vision Award from the Women’s Leadership Assembly, in 2001, and the Community Service Impact Award from the NAACP, North Hills, in 1998. She also was a finalist in 2001 for the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce Athena Award.