Expert Spotlight: Olufemi “Femi” Ogundele

As part of the Affirming Equity, Ensuring Inclusion, Empowering Action national initiative, the Campaign for College Opportunity interviewed Olufemi “Femi” Ogundele to learn more about how he has accomplished so much in such a short time at UC Berkeley, and what California colleges and universities need to think about as they assess their own admissions policies in light of the ongoing tension around Proposition 209.

Ogundele is associate vice chancellor of enrollment and dean of undergraduate admissions at the University of California (UC), Berkeley. A key part of his job is overseeing the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, where his vision and leadership have brought about outreach initiatives successfully targeting LGBTQ+, undocumented, underserved, and first-generation students. 

His efforts have resulted in two of the most ethnically and geographically diverse classes of students enrolled at UC Berkeley in three decades. Not content simply to bring increased diversity to his own campus, Ogundele has also had tremendous success building outreach processes and onboarding experiences that have led to greater diversity at other universities, including Stanford and Cornell. He continues to explore how minoritized students, their high school environments, and the college admissions process perpetuate or dismantle racial inequities in higher education.