St. Joe’s has hired a higher-education firm to assist a search committee created to find a new Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) for the university.

The nine-member search advisory committee chaired by University Provost Jeanne Brady, Ph.D., announced on Dec. 18 will now begin its search for a candidate to fill the position previously held by Monica Nixon, Ed.D., who left the university in July 2018.

“It is anticipated that the search will commence over the course of the spring semester and that the Chief Diversity Officer will be named by late spring,” said Jeanne Brady, Ph.D., provost and vice president for Academic Affairs in an email to The Hawk.

A formal job description for the new CDO position has not been made public by the university but the job description for Nixon’s position of senior diversity officer, was advertised as an assistant provost for Inclusion and Diversity, who would be responsible for directly supervising “the director for Student Inclusion and Diversity, the director for Inclusion and Diversity Access Programs and the Women’s Center,” and would have “dotted-line supervision of the associate director for Student Success & Inclusion.”

Kim Allen-Stuck, Ph.D., assistant vice president of Student Success and Educational Support, who co-chaired the committee that hired Nixon, currently shares Nixon’s responsibilities with Janée Burkhalter, Ph.D., associate professor of marketing.

“The difference between having a search firm and not having one, is a search firm will say we’re going out and telling people you should apply for this job even though you didn’t think you were looking, whereas when you just post the job, it’s just people who are looking,” Allen-Stuck said.

Committee-member Gabby Stevenson ’21 said that, as of Jan. 21, the committee has not met yet, but she wants the university to hire a strong person who can use their power to effectively deal with inclusion and diversity issues.

“I care about the future of the university,” Stevenson said. “I’m looking for someone that will be a good addition to our community because I think, right now, we are going through a lot of racial issues.”

According to a university announcement from University President Mark C. Reed on December 18, the new “Chief Diversity Officer would report directly to the provost, chair the President’s Council on Diversity and Inclusion, and serve as part of the University Leadership Council and the Provost’s Council.”

“The position at that [corporate] level will have access to a lot of things and high level support to be able to move initiatives forward to increase inclusion and diversity on our campus,” said Allen-Stuck.

Luis Nuñez ’21 is the second of two students invited to serve on the search advisory committee, and he hopes the new CDO will have an active role on campus.

“I would like to have someone who has shown dedication to inclusion and diversity or who has had experience in that,” Nuñez said. “Someone who is able to recognize the injustices and not be passive when they identify that.”

According to Allen-Stuck, the new CDO should have experiences in many areas of the university operations.

“They need to have awareness of enrollment management, human resources, curriculum development, student life,” Allen-Stuck said. “It’s such a broad position, but it’s also something where you don’t have to come in mastering all of it. When you’re on the job, you’ll have the exposure to influence all of those areas which is really important.”

Committee-member Geoffrey Arnold, assistant coach of the men’s basketball team, said this will be his first university-wide search committee, and that he hopes the university hires someone with experience in diversity as the new CDO.

“[It should be] someone that knows the lay of the land and hopefully that person could help our university get better,” Arnold said.

In addition to Brady, Arnold, Stevenson and Nuñez, the search committee is comprised of Burkhalter, Chris Heasley, Ph.D., assistant professor of Educational Leadership and head of Transgender Working Group, Jessica Moran-Buckridge, director of Residence Life, Taba Pickard, director of Employee Relations and Engagement and Becki Scola, Ph.D, associate professor and chair of Political Science.