NORTH MANCHESTER — Manchester University named Maegan Pollonais as the new assistant director of student diversity and inclusion.

Pollonais will serve in the new position in addition to her current role as director of Schwalm Hall, which houses upper-level undergraduate students, said a news release from Manchester University.

In her expanded responsibilities, Pollonais will manage the day-to-day operations of the Jean Childs Young Intercultural Center and assist in developing and retaining students of color and international students.

“She is passionate about the lives of all of our students, especially underrepresented groups,” said Abby Van Vlerah, vice president of student life. “She plans to use her skills in ways that combine music, diversity, leadership and education.”

Pollonais is in her final year of study for a doctoral degree in music, with a concentration in educational psychology, at Ball State University. Her dissertation focuses on the importance of multicultural vocal music to the development of the classical vocal music canon.

For the past three years at Ball State, she was a graduate school ambassador as well as the graduate assistant for the Ph.D. Pathways Program in the Office of Institutional Diversity. The Ph.D. Pathways program is a mentoring program that matches high-achieving undergraduate and graduate students from underrepresented backgrounds with faculty and professional staff.

Originally from Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean, Pollonais earned bachelor’s degrees in sociology and music from State University of New York at Plattsburgh and a master’s in music from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.

At Bowling Green, she received the Winifred O. Stone Presidential Scholarship for Diversity, which is an initiative for the “University’s recruitment efforts of the best and brightest graduate students.”