Diversity Officers —
Coming to a Campus Near You?
From diversifying the curriculum to the faculty, these senior-level administrators are taking on unprecedented roles
By Shilpa Banerji
In the long line of equity and access shifts, maneuvers and descriptive title appointments in higher education, yet another has emerged. One of the newest titles, “chief diversity officer,” owes its lineage to its more controversial predecessors, including minority affairs officers, equal opportunity officers, access officers and the once legally bolstered affirmative action officer.
Buoyed by several factors, including the reality of operating in a laissez faire post-affirmative action environment, college administrators across the country are increasingly seeing the need to establish a new and more senior-level position to head up overall diversity efforts, from improving minority faculty retention to diversifying the curriculum.
“There has been a lot of executive-level hiring going on around the country. Schools are hiring vice provosts, provosts, chancellors — a point leadership position to push their diversity effort,” says Dr. Damon A. Williams, assistant vice provost of multicultural and international affairs and co-director of the Senior Diversity Officers Research Project at the University of Connecticut.
“This trend [of appointing a point person] is compelling, … it is a redefinition of academic excellence,” says Dr. Steve O. Michael, vice provost for diversity and academic initiatives at Kent State University, who convened the first meeting of chief diversity officers at the American Council on Education conference in Phoenix last month. The group plans to have a more unified voice by extending its network, forming a national association and holding future conferences.
A New England State of Mind
