Biography

Darozyl Touch is the Assistant Dean for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice and is a Khmer American liberatory educator and community organizer born and raised in South Seattle. Her family are refugee survivors of the Khmer Rouge Genocide and their experiences have influenced her path in working to elevate racial and social justice through the transformative power of education across different sectors.

An alumna of Political Science from Seattle University, she also has a Master’s in Teaching from the University of Washington and has served in K-12 public education, non-profit community-based organizations, and city government—focused on working in solidarity with historically marginalized communities to make anti-racist, equitable, and transformative change at the grassroots level.

She was a co-founder of Washington Building Leaders of Change (WA-BLOC), an organization that serves brilliant BIPOC youth from South Seattle and is revolutionizing education through the Freedom Schools model to elevate the importance of youth activism as a platform for transformative social change. As a Legislative Aide for Seattle City Councilmember Tammy Morales during a racial uprising, pandemic, and economic recession—she focused on creating policy through an anti-racist, intersectional, and anti-oppressive lens centering youth advocacy, restorative justice, community safety and wellness, arts and culture, and education.

Her work at Seattle University will focus on implementing the CAS Strategic Plan with the Strategic Action Committee for Inclusive Academic Excellence (SACIAE) and the Leadership Committee on Intersectionality and Justice (LCIJ) to shape and transform the College of Arts and Sciences to be a place where BIPOC students, faculty, staff, and other marginalized community members - can truly thrive, be seen, and belong.