increasing faculty diversity in higher education: a case study of the evolving role of the chief diversity officer at public uni

While some progress has been made toward increasing diverse student populations on college campuses in the USA, statistics show that the presence of racially and ethnically diverse faculty has remained fairly stagnant. Numerous larger universities around the country have created new positions at the executive administrative level, charging them with increasing the diversity of their campuses. The emergence of the Chief Diversity Officer at public, predominantly white universities presents a new strategic opportunity for US higher education to change its faculty demographics. This book examines the role of the Chief Diversity Officer at three public universities in the southern part of the US. The work examines the officers' specific actions, behaviors, and attitudes with respect to increasing their institutions' faculty diversity. The analysis sheds light on the work of Chief Diversity Officers in US higher education and the mechanisms they employ to help them become effective change agents in spite of a complicated cultural environment. It should provide higher education administrators with useful tools for influencing their cultural environment to achieve incremental change.