Nicquet Blake, PhD | Dean - Graduate Division and Vice Provost - Student Academic Affairs

Nicquet Blake, PhD, one of the nation’s leading voices on issues of equity and diversity in higher education, joined UC San Francisco as vice provost of Student Academic Affairs and dean of the Graduate Division in December 2021.

In leading Student Academic Affairs and the Graduate Division at UCSF, Blake hopes to amplify her advocacy for justice, equity, diversity and inclusion among students and trainees across the University and sees an opportunity to help ensure that decisions are consistently made with students’ and trainees’ best interests as the top priority.

Immediately prior to coming to UCSF, Blake served as senior associate dean for Admissions and Student Affairs in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at UT Health San Antonio (UTHSA/GSBS), part of the University of Texas system, where she was the chief student affairs officer of the graduate school and oversaw the admissions process for all 20 programs.

A neuroscientist by training, Blake has devoted her career to implementing transformational changes to diversify the academy. Over the course of her tenure at UTHSA/GSBS, Blake played a key role in reshaping the campus culture, designing numerous interventions aimed at ensuring that students from historically underserved backgrounds were both valued and well-supported by the campus.

Soon after arriving at UTHSA/GSBS in 2008, Blake established and expanded recruitment efforts to attract students from historically marginalized groups to the institution, which then had a dearth of Hispanic students, despite San Antonio having a predominantly Hispanic population. Today, students from underrepresented backgrounds make up almost a third of the UTHSA/GSBS student population (up from just 12%), and the vast majority of these students are thriving, completing their degrees, and winning awards at both the university and national levels.

Under Blake’s leadership, UTHSA/GSBS also gained financial support for efforts to retain, support, and nurture a more diverse student body, in the form of five NIH-funded diversity training grants, encompassing every level of biomedical science education – from post-bac through postdoc.

Blake received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology from UT San Antonio. She earned her doctorate in neuroscience and completed postdoctoral training at Washington University in St. Louis.

Visit the Graduate Division website.