Raul A. Leon

Raul Leon is the assistant vice provost for student engagement and scholarship programs in the Division of Diversity, Equity & Educational Achievement, where he provides administrative, operational, and strategic leadership for the DDEEA’s student engagement and scholarship programs and serves as executive director of the Mercile J. Lee Scholars Program.

As assistant vice provost, Leon oversees and directs a portfolio of identity-based scholarship programs including the Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives/First Wave Hip Hop and Urban Arts Learning Community, the Posse program, the Precollege Enrichment Opportunity Program for Learning Excellence (PEOPLE), and the Mercile J. Lee Scholars Program. As executive director of the Mercile J. Lee Scholars Program, he leads and manages institutional-level strategic outreach, academic support, and student engagement initiatives for one of the university’s longest-standing and most highly regarded scholarship programs.

Prior to rejoining UW–Madison in June 2022, Leon was a professor in the Department of Leadership and Counseling at Eastern Michigan University, where he taught graduate-level courses in higher education and student affairs while keeping an active research agenda. He earned his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from UW–Madison and his master’s degree from the UW–Madison La Follette School of Public Affairs.