Four Black Scholars Are Taking on New Roles Relating to Diversity in Higher Education

Russell T. Griffin, a U.S. Air Force veteran, has accepted the position of chief diversity and inclusion officer at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. He was the director of diversity and inclusion education and outreach for Emory University in Atlanta.

Griffin holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communication/public relations from the University at Buffalo of the State University of New York System and a master’s degree in industrial and organizational psychology from Walden University. He is now working toward his Ph.D. in industrial and organizational psychology from Walden University.

Adrienne Morgan has been appointed interim vice president for equity and inclusion and the Richard Feldman Chief Diversity Officer at the University of Rochester in New York. She has been serving as vice president for equity and inclusion at the University of Rochester Medical Center and as a senior associate dean for equity and inclusion at the School of Medicine and Dentistry. Dr. Morgan is also an associate professor in the department of medical humanities and bioethics at the Medical Center and an associate professor at the Warner School of Education.

Dr. Morgan is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she majored in political science. She holds a master’s degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in higher education from the University of Rochester.

Karin Lee has been appointed deputy director of athletics at the University of Alabama. She will hold the designations of senior woman administrator and chief diversity officer. She was the deputy athletics director and senior woman administrator at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.

Dr. Lee is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She holds a master’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Ph.D. from Capella University.

Kathy Goodridge-Purnell is the new senior advisor to the president on diversity and strategic planning at Southern Adventist University in Collegedale, Tennessee. She was the chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer at Pacific Union College in Angwin, California.

A native of West London in England, Dr. Goodridge-Purnell holds a master of social work degree from Alabama A&M University and a master’s degree in instructional design/online technology. She earned an educational doctorate from Capella University.

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