Myrna Adams spent her career at Duke trying to make it a better place for all. She served as the first vice president of institutional equity, taking on the position in 1995 after President Nan Keohane formed the Office of Institutional Equity. It came at a time when the university was grappling with equality issues.
During her tenure, Adams worked to define harassment and establish procedures on how to deal with bullying in the workplace. She implemented compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. And, she worked on making the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration a university-wide commemoration, which continues to this day.
In 2000, Adams took on a new role as special assistant to Executive Vice President Tallman Trask. In her new position, Adams was tasked with serving as a mediator between supervisors and employees to resolve conflicts among themselves rather than taking their grievances to department heads. Adams, who spoke Spanish and had an extensive knowledge of Latin American studies, also headed a committee that worked to resolve the inequities faced by Latinos.
“It’s clear we’re at the beginning of a growth cycle. I want to talk about ways to make Duke an attractive place for all of our Latino employees,” she said in a 2000 interview.
Adams also was a founding member of the Samuel DuBois Cook Society, a black honor society.
When she retired in 2003 Adams was recognized for her “commitment and passion to issues of equal opportunity, respect for individuals and trying to make Duke a better place for everybody.”
