Dr.Janice Underwood will be the state’s first “diversity czar.”

Gov. Ralph S. Northam on Monday tapped the former director of diversity initiatives at Old Dominion University to serve as the new state director of diversity, equity and inclusion that he created as part of his efforts to recover from a blackface scandal.

Dr. Underwood has been tasked with developing a framework “to promote inclusive practices” in hiring and policy development in state government, the governor stated.

She also is to create a plan to “address systematic inequities” and use feedback from state workers, community leaders, business groups and others to generate policy initiatives, he stated in adding Dr. Underwood to his leadership team.

Dr. Underwood’s appointment follows Gov. Northam naming 18 other people to the state’s first African-American Advisory Board that is to make recommendations on issues important to the community — similar to existing advisory boards for Latinos and Asians.

The governor also named nine legal experts to a separate Commission to Examine Racial Inequity in Virginia law. That commission will include former Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael N. Herring and former Richmond General District Court Judge Birdie H. Jamison.

The racial inequity commission is to offer recommendations for changes in state law and administrative regulations for the General Assembly and state agencies to consider in 2020.

Gov. Northam called the appointments part “of the ongoing work to right historical inequities in areas like education and health care” and business support.

The recent wave also represents the latest sign of Gov. Northam’s rebound from the blackface scandal that nearly crashed his political career in ruins. It also signals that he retains the trust and confidence of many African-Americans in the state.

Rejecting widespread calls for his resignation after his page in his 1984 medical school yearbook was found to show a photo of a person in blackface and another in Ku Klux Klan regalia, Gov. Northam pledged to use his remaining tenure in office — through early January 2022 — to make Virginia more equitable and inclusive, with a focus on the African-American community.

Among other things, he pledged to name a director of diversity. He called Dr. Underwood an ideal choice for the role.

Her “background as an educator, leader and collaborator, as well as her experience promoting inclusive policies and directing diversity initiatives, make her the perfect person,” he stated. “I look forward to having her as a partner in this important work.”

Dr. Underwood, who earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Hampton University and her doctorate from Old Dominion University, said she would be “dedicated to working with Virginians to promote lasting, institutional change at all levels of state government.”

She has worked on a national board that certifies special education teachers and been involved with the Virginia Community College System and other groups to bolster racial and cultural awareness and staff diversity.

Along with other tasks, she also will work with the new African-American Advisory Board, whose 18 members include Dr. Cheryl Ivey Green, executive minister of First Baptist Church of South Richmond.

The board grew out of legislation that Henrico Delegate Lamont Bagby, chair of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, introduced in January before the photo scandal broke and that assumed greater importance after the scandal.

Delegate Bagby, at the time, called the “cre- ation of this board far overdue. Establishing the board through legislative action will ensure that the African-American community has a perma- nent voice in the state’s executive branch.”

Gov. Northam signed the legislation in March and named the 18 members just before the Labor Day holiday.

The appointees also include: The Rev. Cozy Bailey of Dumfries, president of the Prince William County NAACP; Xavier L. Beale of Smithfield, vice president of trades for Newport News Shipbuilding; Gilbert T. Bland of Virginia Beach, president and chief executive officer of the Urban League of Hampton Roads, who will serve as chair of the advisory board; and Norfolk Police Chief Larry D. Boone.

Also, Zyahna Bryant of Charlottesville, a University of Virginia student; Hope F. Cupit of Bedford, president and chief executive officer of the Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project Inc.; Keren Charles Dongo of Alexandria, state director for U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine; and Dr. Ingrid Granberry Grant of Chesterfield, Henrico Public Schools’lead director of school leadership and director of middle school education.

Also, Teri Helenese of Loudoun, Washing- ton representative and director of state-federal relations for the governor of the Virgin Islands; Gaylene Kanoyton of Hampton, president of Cel- ebrate Healthcare and first vice chair of the state Democratic Party and president of the Hampton Branch NAACP; and Yvonne J. Lewis, Virginia Beach community and social activist.

Also, Dr. Monica Motley of Danville, founder and chief executive officer of The Motley Consulting Group and a faculty member at the Virginia Teach Center for Public Health Practice and Research; Precious Rasheeda Muhammad of Suffolk, an independent scholar; Cameron D. Patterson of Farmville, managing director of the Robert Russa Moton Museum of Civil Rights; Monica L. Reid of Alexandria, director of advocacy for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; Yvette G. Robinson of Petersburg, retired agriculture professor at Virginia State University; and Van C. Wilson of Glen Allen, associate vice chancellor of the Virginia Community College System.

The governor credited the formation of the legal commission to two other members of the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus, Delegate Marcia Price of Newport News and state Sen. Lionel Spruill Sr. of Chesapeake, who pushed the idea in the recent session.

The legal commission’s members, who were named Sept. 3, also include: Cynthia Hudson of Richmond, chief deputy attorney general, who will serve as chair; Andrew Block of Charlottesville, an attorney and former director of the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice; Henry L. Chambers Jr. of Henrico, a professor at the University of Richmond Law School; and Jill Hanken of Richmond, an attorney and health law specialist for the Virginia Poverty Law Center.

Also, Carla Jackson of Chesterfield, assistant commissioner for legal affairs with the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles; Judge Jerrauld Jones, chief judge of the Norfolk Circuit Court; and Leslie Chambers Mehta of Chesterfield, chief of staff and legal counsel to the chief executive officer of the Richmond Metropolitan Transportation Authority.