Catherine Criswell Spear (she/her/hers), is the inaugural Executive Director for the new UC Systemwide Office of Civil Rights (SOCR), reporting directly to the University of California President. Catherine leads an umbrella office that encompasses three critical civil rights subject matter areas: Systemwide Title IX Office, Systemwide Anti-Discrimination Office, and Systemwide Disability Rights Office. SOCR provides strategic guidance and subject matter expertise support to UC’s 10 academic campuses, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and UC’s academic medical centers. This new function at the Office of the President was created in response to feedback from the UC community and on the recommendation of a systemwide working group charged with developing the University’s Anti-Discrimination Policy. This inaugural role and new systemwide civil rights office was one of a series of steps UC took to provide centralized oversight for these campus functions and a more consistent approach to how the University responds to allegations of discrimination and harassment systemwide. Catherine has a wealth of experience and expertise as an attorney, an established higher education leader, and a respected civil rights professional. Before UC, she served as vice president of the Office for Equity, Equal Opportunity, and Title IX at the University of Southern California, which responds to thousands of reports each year from students, staff, faculty, and visitors in both academic and health care settings. Prior to her role at USC, Catherine served as associate vice president at the Office for Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights at the University of Virginia, Title IX coordinator at Stanford University, and director at the former U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights in Cleveland, Ohio. Catherine earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Dayton and her juris doctorate degree from the Case Western Reserve University School of law. In her free time, Catherine writes poetry, loves to cook, and can often be found outside hiking, kayaking, playing tennis, or gardening.