Allegheny College is the 32nd oldest college in the nation. In 2015 it will celebrate its bicentennial. The college has rigorous standards and is dedicated to the ideal of providing a transformative education to ambitious, talented students regardless of their social or financial means. Set in rural northwestern Pennsylvania, this predominantly White residential college (student population 2,100) has pledged to diversify its faculty and student body. It’s an impressive story of determination that has resulted in the creation of a chief diversity officer position.
In 2010, educator and administrator Dr. Lawrence T. Potter was hired as chief diversity officer, associate dean of the college and tenured professor of English. He also is a member of the college’s Administrative Executive Committee, the institution’s highest governing body.
As chief diversity officer and associate dean of the college, he will have broad influence over many aspects of campus and community life, especially with regards to faculty as well as the curriculum and co-curriculum in efforts to advance and sustain diversity initiatives at the college.
“His scholarly work and his experience in the area of diversity makes him uniquely suited for the position,” says Eddie Taylor, class of ’87, chairman of the Board of Trustees, and the first African-American to lead the board.
Potter’s appointment carries a number of firsts. He is Allegheny’s first chief diversity officer. He is Allegheny’s first African-American to sit on the president’s Cabinet, and he also is the first administrator/educator hired with tenure.
“Lawrence Potter is a first-rank scholar with an impressive curriculum vitae who has earned tenure at multiple institutions as well as a prestigious American Council on Education fellowship. In every conversation, he understood the challenges of building community in an increasingly diverse environment. He’s absolutely committed to students and to building the structure to achieve our goals,” says Dr. James Mullen, the president of Allegheny College since 2008.
Why, in the midst of a recession, does a small liberal arts college create a new administrative post?
