Dear Colleagues,

As you know, we’ve been seeking candidates to serve as our first Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. We are searching for a dynamic and experienced individual to develop, lead and champion a comprehensive and actionable campus diversity strategy. I am excited to announce that we have identified finalists for the position and we have invited each to the campus to give public presentations. Members of the campus community will be able to offer feedback on each candidate online. Comments will be accepted until 5 p.m. Wednesday, December 5.

The first candidate to visit will be Karen Jones, the chief diversity officer at Buffalo State College. Her presentation will be Thursday, November 8, at 4 p.m. in the Knight Auditorium of the Spurlock Museum. If you are not able to attend in person, the presentation will also streamed live at https://go.illinois.edu/ViceChancellorStream. A valid campus netid and password will be required to access the stream.

You will be able to offer feedback online at: https://forms.illinois.edu/sec/9730346

I want to thank the search committee, co-chaired by College of Education Dean James Anderson and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Danita Brown Young, for their careful work in cultivating an excellent pool of applicants and the finalists we will be introducing to the campus. I look forward to welcoming each of them.

Sincerely,

Robert J. Jones
Chancellor