Anna Spain Bradley, an expert in international law and human rights who has advised the United Nations, is UCLA’s new vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion, the university announced Monday.

“I am deeply honored,” she said about accepting the position for Sept. 1. “UCLA’s commitment to these values and its leadership on inclusive excellence in higher education offer a much-needed model in our nation and around the world. I am committed to deepening these achievements in ways that serve the campus and our community.”

She added: “In this time of challenge and needed change in our country, community matters more than ever. Building authentic community requires us to see one another, accept one another, value each other and recognize our inherent human dignity.”

Spain Bradley returns to UCLA from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she served as assistant vice provost for faculty development and diversity since 2017 and has been a professor of law at the University of Colorado Law School since 2009. She was also a faculty adviser to the Black Law Students Association and International Human Rights LLM students.

Prior to her time in Colorado, Spain Bradley she served as a lecturer at the UCLA School of Law and deputy director of the UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations.

She’s previously served as attorney-adviser at the U.S. Department of State’s Office of the Legal Adviser and as a delegate to the United Nations Compensation Commission in Geneva, twice earning the State Department’s Meritorious Honor Award. She’s held positions at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. And, she is a founding member of Mediators Beyond Borders International.

A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Spain Bradley is a former member of the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and a member of the state bar of Pennsylvania.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in environmental studies at Denison University and her doctorate at Harvard Law School, where she served as an executive editor of the Harvard Human Rights Journal.

In 2018, she was one of four educators in the nation to receive an OZY Educator Award. She’s also received the American Society of International Law’s Francis Lieber Award and the University of Colorado Law School’s Gamm Justice Award.

“I believe a university’s greatest strength is its people,” Spain Bradley said. “I look forward to building relationships and collaborating with students, staff, faculty, alumni and the broader UCLA community to advance these values in authentic ways.”

Spain Bradley will succeed Jerry Kang, UCLA’s inaugural vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion, who will return to research and teaching on June 30. Carole Goldberg, the Jonathan D. Varat Distinguished Professor of Law Emerita and former vice chancellor for academic personnel, has agreed to serve in the position on an interim basis through July and August, until Spain Bradley’s term commences Sept. 1.

“I want to recognize and thank Jerry Kang for his exemplary leadership as our inaugural vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion since 2015,” UCLA Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Emily Carter said. “The procedures and systems Jerry established have provided us with an institutional map to help inform and guide our continued efforts to advance equity, diversity and inclusion at UCLA…

“The painful events of recent weeks have underscored the importance of the critical work that every institution in America must do to turn our nation’s promises into reality, and I am confident that Professor Spain Bradley is uniquely suited to coordinate UCLA’s efforts to nurture a campus — and a broader community — built on equity, inclusion, respect and justice.”

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