Menah Pratt honored among Top 50 Women Leaders of Virginia for second consecutive year
Menah Pratt, Virginia Tech’s vice president for strategic affairs and diversity and professor of education, has been honored as one of the Top 50 Women Leaders of Virginia for 2024 by Women We Admire. Pratt also received this distinction in 2023.
According to the organization’s website, this list of accomplished women represent “the future possibilities for other women who have big aspirations in making a substantive impact in their chosen fields.” Pratt is listed in the top 10 of both the 2023 and 2024 lists.
“To be recognized for a second consecutive year as one of the Top 50 Women Leaders of Virginia is an honor beyond words,” said Pratt. “I am privileged to work at an institution that embodies the values of service and inclusion. I am grateful for the opportunity to use my skills and experience to help empower communities that have historically been marginalized and disadvantaged in their educational experiences.”
Pratt joined Virginia Tech on Feb. 1, 2016, following a distinguished career in strategic affairs, diversity and inclusion, compliance, and counsel at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Vanderbilt University. In her time at Virginia Tech, she has been instrumental in leading and collaborating with colleagues to advance InclusiveVT, the institutional and individual commitment to Ut Prosim (That I May Serve) in the spirit of community, diversity, and excellence.
She has received the Winds of Change Award presented by the Forum on Workplace Inclusion and was named a 2023 fellow by the American Council on Education.
Pratt will be a featured speaker at the 2024 Faculty Women of Color in the Academy Conference (FWCA). She founded the conference in 2012 during her time at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as a unique educational and professional opportunity for Indigenous and women of color in the academy to network, engage, and learn with colleagues from around the world. In the last 12 years, thousands of postdoctoral scholars, faculty, and administrators have benefited both personally and professionally by attending the three-day event.
"FWCA is designed to facilitate growth, healing, and learning, and my hope is that those who attend reap the benefits for the rest of their careers,” said Pratt. “We are working extra hard this year to make the conference — both online and in-person — a gathering attendees won’t forget.”
In addition to Pratt, Kimberly Horn, a research scientist with the university’s Institute for Policy and Governance, was also named to the list. Horn is spearheading innovations through public-private partnerships to address the opioid crisis in Central Appalachia, including Southwest Virginia, and beyond.
