Janice Branch has been named coordinator of diversity initiatives in the Office of Access and Community Connections at the Haslam College of Business. She will be responsible for coordinating all of the undergraduate recruitment, pre-college (BETS Program, AIM Academy and the Early College Awareness Program) and retention/advising initiatives for the office.

Branch comes to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, from Wake Forest University, where she served as the event manager for the School of Business. She provided strategy and leadership the development of comprehensive plans for event management that supported holistic student development for six graduate business programs.

During her tenure at Wake Forest, Branch became a certified internal diversity trainer, conducting workshops for faculty, staff and students on the importance of inclusion, empathy and self-awareness. Her background also includes intercultural communications training and student advising.

She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the College of William and Mary in 2008 and a master’s degree in management from Wake Forest School of Business.