Deitre Allen Epps
Doctor of Laws
Deitre Epps is a longtime champion of pursuing equity and community well-being through education, training and technical assistance for health, human services and education leaders. Epps is founder and CEO of R.A.C.E. (Results Achieved through Community Engagement) for Equity, a Durham-based organization that helps nonprofits, government agencies and other groups center equity in their work and strengthen their leadership capacity and cultural responsiveness.
A graduate of Howard University and Coppin State University, Epps began her career as a co-founder, director and assistant dean of education for Vision Christian Academy and Child Development Center, a Baltimore-based school for infants to school-age students. She also served as director of Baltimore’s highly successful School Readiness Initiative.
Epps has facilitated numerous cross-cultural conversations in the development of multi-sector community and organizational plans, and she has provided capacity-building for federal and state government agencies, universities, philanthropic, faith-based, and nonprofit organizations to support measurable improvement for people and communities.
Epps is known as an adroit, dynamic and culturally responsive leader whose work spans the globe. Her current efforts focus on promoting well-being by addressing the social determinants of health, including structural racism. She often partners with faculty and students at the Gillings School of Global Public Health to advance equitable, culturally competent strategies to improve the long-term health of communities and individuals.
For outstanding accomplishment in promoting equity and community well-being, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is pleased to confer on Deitre Allen Epps the degree of Doctor of Laws honoris causa.
