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Paige Warren, professor of environmental conservation and associate dean of faculty affairs and graduate studies in the College of Natural Sciences (CNS), has been named the next director of UMass ADVANCE, an interdisciplinary, faculty-led network that develops and supports campus-driven research and programming as the drivers of faculty equity on campus.

Warren brings a proven record of inclusive leadership and institutional change. As a faculty member and former head of the UMass Amherst Department Environmental Conservation, she partnered with her colleagues to apply ADVANCE-developed, high-impact practices—strengthening faculty mentoring, equitable workload planning, and inclusive governance— within the department. These experiences now inform her work as associate dean and her contributions as a Leader of Practice with UMass ADVANCE.

A creative and trusted collaborator, Warren has been an active member of the ADVANCE Leadership Team and co-facilitator of the ADVANCE Faculty Fellows network. She has helped to build up the Faculty Fellows community as a supportive, sustainable hub for sharing lessons, focusing priorities, and translating evidence into action across the disciplines and colleges, among engaged faculty of all tracks and ranks. In stepping into the director role, she will continue to cultivate collective faculty leadership, deepen cross-campus partnerships, and amplify the research-practice cycle that is central to ADVANCE’s impact.

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Warren succeeds Jennifer Normanly, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and acting associate dean of undergraduate education in CNS. Normanly played a formative role in the creation of UMass ADVANCE and has stewarded the program’s post-NSF transition as outgoing faculty director.

UMass ADVANCE also announced that Jess Dillard-Wright, associate professor and associate dean of equity and inclusion in the Elaine Marieb College of Nursing, has been named the program’s newest Leader of Research. Dillard-Wright brings deep expertise at the intersections of health, equity, and activism, and will lead translational research that illuminates faculty experiences and guides actionable, equity-centered practices across departments and colleges.

More information about UMass ADVANCE can be found at umass.edu/advance.