Director
Office of Black Student Development
Dr. Avery Hartwell joined UC Santa Barbara in 2026 as Director of the Office of Black Student Development. A student affairs strategist with more than a decade of experience across research universities, HBCUs, and community colleges, he focuses on how Black students, staff, and faculty, especially Black men, take up space and thrive in postsecondary educational spaces.
Dr. Hartwell believes transparency, advocacy, mentorship, and community help Black students, staff, and faculty succeed in postsecondary spaces and decide who they want to be in society. For Black men, he also sees access, inclusion, and community as essential to their development.
Before UCSB, he led campus-wide initiatives at Rice University that grew engagement by 65% across 8,000+ students and 200+ faculty and staff, including Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, PRIDE Week, and orientation. He managed $1M+ in endowment funding, oversaw 45 student organizations, launched two Employee Resource Groups (the Rice Black Professional Network and the Rice PRIDE Professional Network), and created Breaking the Silence, a year-long series addressing mental health stigma in the Black male community. He also increased campus engagement and strengthened relationships between alumni and athletics.
Earlier, at Cedar Valley College, he led the Black Brotherhood Initiative, raising registration, enrollment, and graduation rates for Black male students by 20%. He also built STEM pipelines for students of color, including a bootcamp for 150+ students and internships for 100+ more.
Throughout his career, he has partnered with local Texas school districts and community organizations to promote postsecondary education and strengthen recruitment strategies across the state. He has advised students on national fellowships such as the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, served on the Fulbright committee, and helped create a summer fellowship that sends students abroad to pursue research.
Dr. Hartwell holds an Ed.D. in Higher Education Leadership and an M.A. in Higher Education Administration from Sam Houston State University, and a B.F.A. in Film from the University of Texas at Arlington, where he ran Division I track and field. A Houston native and proud member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, he is committed to helping Black community not only succeed and feel included in postsecondary spaces but also in society.