Traevena Byrd is Vice President, General Counsel and Board Secretary for American University. She serves as a member of the President's cabinet and as chief legal advisor to the university's executive officers and board. In the role of General Counsel, she coordinates all legal services for the university and manages the team of lawyers and administrative professionals who serve in the Office of General Counsel. As Secretary to the Board of Trustees, she oversees board operations, maintains meeting minutes, and serves as the custodian of board records and the corporate seal. She has previously worked as a Title IX coordinator, EEO investigator, and associate general counsel at Ithaca College in New York; Vice President and General Counsel at Towson University in Maryland; and as an adjunct faculty member teaching civil rights and social justice.
Traevena currently serves on the accreditation commission for the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators (IACLEA). Traevena serves as Secretary on the Board of the National Association of College and University Attorneys (NACUA) where she previously served as a Member-at-Large from 2014-2017; she also serves as Chair of the NACUA Committee on Board Operations. She is a frequent presenter on the subject of free speech and student protest, and has been a speaker for several higher education associations, including the Association for Student Conduct Administration (ASCA), the American Council on Education (ACE), the Student Affairs Professionals in Higher Education (NASPA), the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO), the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR), the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS), and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
Traevena is a graduate of the University of Iowa, where she received both her Bachelor of Arts in African American World Studies with honors and her law degree.