Renée Smith-Maddox is a clinical associate professor and Vice Chair of Curriculum for the Department of Social Change and Innovation. She teaches online and on-the-ground courses in the school’s Master of Social Work and Doctor of Social Work programs. She is the lead instructor for the policy advocacy and social course and serves as the school’s Diversity Liaison to the Provost. At the university level, she is Chair of the Provost’s Diversity and Inclusion Council and is co-chair of the Campus Climate Committee. She also works with the Provost’s office to develop programs and initiatives that raise awareness and provoke dialogue about campus climate issues. As a social work educator and mentor, Dr. Smith-Maddox prepares her students to be advocates for and designers of social change. In the classroom, she creates a learning community that teaches students how to assess, analyze, and evaluate policies and programs. This learning environment also serves as a social innovation lab for students and professionals to prototype and test their ideas to solving our most complex challenges. Prior to her appointment at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, Smith-Maddox held faculty positions at the USC Rossier School of Education and the University of California, Los Angeles, Graduate School of Education & Information Studies. Her experience as an education analyst with the New York City Board of Education and a teacher researcher with inquiry-based research projects laid the foundation for her interests in diversity, equity, and inclusion. Smith-Maddox has worked as an executive director with the Posse Foundation, the Los Angeles Urban League, and First Place for Youth. In this capacity, she focused on fund development and designing service delivery systems for college access programs, workforce development initiatives, and transitional services for foster care youth. From this work, she has come to understand the issues that nonprofits face and the sustainable creative solutions that are needed to address their existing and emerging challenges. She is also a professional coach and volunteers for cause-specific efforts that promote the progress individuals and organizations are making in areas such as youth development, human trafficking, and homelessness.