Who We Are
The Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Education and Learning Initiatives (ODEI Education) staff is dedicated to social justice, fair education policies, and anti-racist practices.
We believe DEIB education is a continuous journey, not a single workshop or training. The power of DEIB lies in our collective and conscious effort towards making ourselves better as leaders, managers, colleagues, and citizens who are part of a globalized world. We strive for Brandeis University to become a cultural and equity leader in higher education.
Our goal is to nurture a transformative mindset that encourages everyone to adopt and engage with DEIB thinking on every level. Our role is to provide the resources and pathways for every student, educator, and employee to feel empowered as co-creators of an equitable environment of belonging.
Staff
Charles Chip McNeal, MEd, PhD, is a seasoned, transformative leader and DEIB expert with a distinguished career at the intersection of arts, education, and social justice. With a long track record in executive leadership, organizational development, and equity initiatives, he has successfully navigated complex environments to drive meaningful change. As a pioneer in inclusive and responsive pedagogy, Dr. McNeal was the first-ever Director of Education and Equity for San Francisco Ballet Association. He was the inaugural Director of Diversity, Equity and Community for the esteemed San Francisco Opera. He has held senior leadership roles with the Alameda County Office of Education, and the California Department of Education. Dr. McNeal has dedicated his career to empowering individuals and communities through civic engagement and education. His work at Stanford University, Harvard Graduate School of Education, and San Francisco Conservatory of Music has focused on developing anti-racist frameworks, fostering inclusive learning environments, and building capacity for systemic change in education.
Dr. McNeal’s academic journey has been a significant contributor to his expertise. He holds two bachelor’s degrees – in psychology and sociology from Excelsior University, providing him with a strong foundation in understanding human behavior and societal structures. His master’s in Education: Curriculum and Instruction from Lesley University equipped him with the skills to develop effective educational programs and devise curricula. Dr. McNeal earned a PhD in Transformative Studies in education from the California Institute for Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco. He has been recognized for his contributions to the field through numerous awards and honors, including the Brandeis Student Hero Award (2023); in 2015, he received the Yale Distinguished Music Education Partnership Award for outstanding program development. He was selected as an Inaugural Artist-Scholar of Influence by the Manhattan School of Music in 2021. Appointed by Mayor Libby Schaaf, Dr. McNeal served as a Cultural Arts Commissioner for the City of Oakland, CA, in 2022.
As the Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Education and Learning Initiatives for Brandeis University, he leads students, staff, and faculty in equity-centered learning. Dr. McNeal and his team develop workshops, seminars, courses, symposia, and other experiential learning opportunities that cultivate the “beloved community” that Brandeisians deserve. Workshops address bias, belonging, racism, antisemitism, many identity-based aggressions, and more.
Llewellyn Murray is the Program Administrator and Senior Learning Coach for the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Education and Learning Initiatives. He is an accomplished community organizer, advocate, and educator, bringing over a decade of experience working to advance equity and belonging in predominantly white institutions, including K-12 education, the arts, museums, and higher education. With a background in restorative/transformative justice, and drawing on their lived experience as a multiply-marginalized person, central to their work is a deep sense of relationality and passion for intersectional, abolitionist social justice they strive to put into practice in all areas of their life. As an educator, he is especially interested in empowering students and colleagues who identify as people of color, queer, and disabled or neurodivergent. He has cultivated a practice as a thoughtful, sensitive facilitator in navigating difficult conversations, particularly with those who have caused harm.
Llewellyn’s previous appointments include serving as the Restorative Justice Grant Manager and Implementation Coach at Succeed Boston, a Boston Public Schools (BPS) program providing clinical, social-emotional, and educational support to K-12 students. Here, he oversaw a federally-funded grant examining restorative justice practices in BPS and supported Districtwide rollout, leading professional development and providing ongoing individualized and schoolwide consultation and coaching. This position offered a unique perspective, and the opportunity to work with a variety of school faculty, staff, and students across the District, including high support needs, multi-system involved, and students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE) – and was an experience that significantly informed his commitment to educational justice, and to supporting those from historically underserved and marginalized populations. Their role at Brandeis picks up where this work left off in many ways: while primarily responsible for the department’s operations, they additionally help develop and deliver high-quality, high-impact programming on a wide range of anti-racism/anti-oppression topics to students, faculty, and staff, in order to foster what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called the “Beloved Community,” where everyone belongs.
Llewellyn graduated from Stonehill College in 2016, taking a multidisciplinary approach to his studies that blended his academic and personal interests in history, literature, languages, and critical theory. Outside of Brandeis, he is an artist, musician, and sewist, and frequently incorporates his varied expertise in arts and culture to promote issues of cross-cultural intelligence, sustainability, and social change.