Diversity

Recently hired to diversity posts are Paul Frazier at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Sylvia R. Carey-Butler at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, LaVar Charleston at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Jeanne Arnold at St. Francis College in Brooklyn, and Wilmore Webley at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

JBHE has conducted an annual survey on the number of Black students in the entering classes of the nation's top-ranked research universities for nearly 30 years. On many occasions, the number of Black students in the first-year class at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena could have been counted on one hand. Not anymore.

The trio of African American men in new diversity pots includes Daryl A. Carter at East Tennessee State University, Micahe; Bowie at the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, and Michael Young at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Taking on new duties in diversity equity, and inclusion are Elliott Dawes at Baruch College in New York, Leah Cox at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Stephen Hairston at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Meshea L. Poore of West Virginia University, who was elected president of the Big 12 Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education.

Taking on new diversity roles are John Johnson at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, Angela Mosley-Monts at the University of Arkansas, Carllos Lassiter at Austin College in Sherman, Texas, Ivy Banks at the Association of American Universities, and Samira M. Payne at Marquette University in Milwaukee.

Taking on new diversity roles are Nakeshia N. Williams at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia, Kortet Mensah at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, North Carolina, Luz Randolph at Louisiana State University, and Mary Wardell-Ghirarduzzi at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.

The four new diversity officers are Travon Robinson at Butte College in Oroville, California, Julie Bernard at Norwich University in Vermont, Charlene Holmes at Elms College in Chicopee, Massachusetts, and Michael Alston at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis.

Today, only 4 percent of the faculty members in the state system are Black. Now in its second year, the Promoting Recruitment, Opportunity, Diversity, Inclusion and Growth (PRODiG) program has resulted in 41 percent of all new faculty hires being from underrepresented groups.

The five African Americans in new diversity roles are Anita Fernander at Florida Atlantic University, Patrick Dudley at Stanford University, Andrea Abrams at Cenre College in Danville, Kentucky, Amber Benton at Michigan State University and Gretchen Cook-Anderson at IES Abroad.

The Equity Task Force at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, has defined concrete goals and plans to invest more than $75 million into the support of Black students and programs over the course of the next five years. Among the goals are to double the number of Black undergraduate students at the university.

A new study by scholars in the department of psychology at Princeton University in New Jersey finds that the rationale for greater diversity in higher education often reflects the views of Whites but not necessarily those of Blacks.

At the University of Virginia, just 13 percent of undergraduates identified as Black or Hispanic; that share is 60 percent lower than the state’s population ages 18 to 24. The College of William & Mary and Christopher Newport University are near large Black population centers but each of their student bodies is just 7 percent Black.

Shirley J. Everett was named senior adviser to the provost on equity and inclusion at Stanford University. Emmanuel Adero is the new deputy chief officer for the  Office of Equity and Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and Torsheika Maddox was named chief of staff for the chief diversity officer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Laura Jack will be acting chief diversity officer at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. Brandi Elliott is taking on a diversity role at the University of Cincinnati and Kerri Thompson Tillett has been named associate vice chancellor for equal opportunity at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Appointed to executive positions in diversity are Damita Davis at the College of Brockport of the State University of New York System, Sarah Walker at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, Bryan Samuel at the University of Texas at Arlington, and Nefertiti Walker at the University of Massachusetts.

Taking on new roles as diversity officers are Pierre Morton at Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, New Hampshire, Harris Akinloye at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, Keesha Burke-Henderson at Randolph College in Lynchburg, Virginia, Mary J. Wardell-Ghirarduzzi at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, and Constance Porter at Rice University in Houston.

The four African Americans who have been appointed to diversity positions are Michelle Foster at Colorado State University, B. Sherrance Russell at the University of Missouri, Anita Dashiell-Sparks at the University of Southern California, and Kristina Marshall at Baker College in Michigan.

Appointed to posts in diversity, equity, and inclusion are Christopher Manning at the University of Southern California, Jessica Harris at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Matthew C. Chaney at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and Roderick J. Gilbert at the University of Pennsylvania.

Nationwide, about 6 percent of all students who earn bachelor's degrees in music are Black. A concentration on the classical music of Europe at many schools of music is one reason for a low level of participation by Black students. Music education, with its high cost for purchasing instruments, training, traveling, is also a challenge.

The six African Americans named to diversity posts are Tiffany Hayden at the University of Kentucky, Anthony DiNicola at the University of Arkansas, Robin R. Means Coleman at Northwestern University, Jasmine A. Lee at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, Andreá Williams at Ohio State University, and Yolanda Caldwell at the College of St. Rose in Albany, New York.