Alaina Macaulay

Vice Provost for Institutional Inclusive Excellence

A humanist, structuralist, and phenomenologist, Alaina Macaulay believes that lived experience offers critical insight for designing systems and structures that center people and advance the common good. Serving as the Vice Provost for Institutional Inclusive Excellence at Tufts University, Alaina leads institutional efforts to cultivate a more inclusive university culture. Now in her third year at Tufts, she designed and leads the ELEVATE inclusive excellence strategic vision and initiatives that center an inclusive campus culture for all faculty, staff and students.

Before Tufts, Alaina served as Senior Director for Inclusion and Strategic Engagement at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she led initiatives aimed at fostering an inclusive campus environment. These initiatives included overseeing the University Employee Resource Groups, the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) Collaborative, both the Black and Native Advisory Councils, the Campus Engagement Fund, and large-scale programming that engaged both the UMass community and the broader Western Massachusetts region.

Earlier in her career, Alaina served as Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Elms College. There, she developed and chaired the institution’s diversity committee, created the first multicultural affinity space, and initiated student affinity groups. Alaina also organized the school’s inaugural Black Experience Summit and worked closely with students as both a success coach and advocate. Alaina is currently finishing her PhD in higher education from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Previously, she attended Western Illinois University where she was a Division I student-athlete receiving both a BS and MS. During her time at Western Illinois University, she co-founded and co-chaired WE (Women Empowering), a group for women student-athletes to build community, self-esteem and inclusive spaces. During her career, Alaina has led workshops and presentations nationally and internationally on the importance of inclusive excellence and designing systems and practices that support all in a community.

Alaina has served on the boards of the Young Professional Society of Greater Springfield, Girls Inc. of the Valley, the Holyoke Community College Foundation, and the Chester Theatre Company, was named BusinessWest Forty Under 40 class of 2022 and highlighted as a Black Leader in Massachusetts by MassLive during their Juneteenth Issue in 2024.