Universities Appoint Three African American to Positions as Diversity Officers

Cynthia Pickett has been appointed the presidential associate for inclusion and chief diversity officer at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. She was associate provost for diversity, equity, and inclusion and an associate professor of psychology at DePaul University in Chicago. Earlier, she was associate vice-provost for faculty equity and inclusion at the University of California, Davis.

Dr. Pickett is a graduate of Stanford University, where she majored in psychology. She earned a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in social psychology from the Ohio State University.

Monroe France has been named vice provost for diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. He will start in the position on April 3. France is the senior associate vice president for global engagement and inclusive leadership at New York University.

France is a graduate of John Carroll University in University Heights, Ohio, where he majored in English. He holds a master’s degree in higher education administration from Ohio State University.

Tracie Ransom is the inaugural assistant dean for equity, diversity, and inclusion at Tulane Law School in New Orleans. Ransom practiced complex litigation for nearly a decade with AmLaw 200-firm Porter Wright in Columbus, Ohio, first as an associate and later as the first Black woman to be elected partner. She then left private practice to become associate general counsel and department director for Edward Jones, a Fortune 500 investment and financial advisory firm headquartered in St. Louis.

Ransom is a graduate of the University of Alabama. She earned a juris doctorate at the University of Illinois College of Law.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Get the JBHE Weekly Bulletin

Receive our weekly email newsletter delivered to your inbox

Latest News

Recent Books of Interest to African American Scholars

The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education regularly publishes a list of new books that may be of interest to our readers. The books included are on a wide variety of subjects and present many different points of view.

North Carolina A&T State University Mounts Effort to Educate Heirs Property Owners

Heirs property is land passed down through a family, often over multiple generations and to numerous descendants, without the use of wills or probate courts. In North Carolina, the value of land owned as heirs property is estimated at nearly $1.9 billion. Heirs property is disproportionately held by Black landowners.

Higher Education Grants or Gifts of Interest to African Americans

Here is this week’s news of grants or gifts to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.

New Legislation Aims to Boost Entrepreneurial Efforts of HBCU Students

Congresswoman Nikema Williams (GA-05) has introduced the Minority Entrepreneurship Grant Program Act, bipartisan legislation that creates a grant program with the Small Business Administration for entrepreneurs at minority-serving institutions like historically Black colleges and universities.

Featured Jobs