Lifting and Strengthening our KU Lawrence and Edwards Community

Dear Colleague,

As you know, on July 1 the State of Kansas ushered in new requirements related to hiring, promotion and training, as well as for processes related to admissions and student financial support at all state higher education institutions. In this communication, we share information about four changes we are making in response to this new environment as an opportunity to lift and strengthen our KU Lawrence and Edwards community.

Office of Civil Rights and Title IX

To ensure we continue to progress on our goals of access, belonging, respect and success, our Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging is adapting. Most staff will report to Associate Vice Chancellor Lauren Jones McKown in the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX, which is aligned with the Chancellor’s Office. Lauren is a seasoned attorney and advocate who has worked with the Office of Diversity, Equity Inclusion & Belonging over the past three years to build valuable coalitions that have strengthened our institutional infrastructure. Under Lauren’s leadership in the Chancellor’s office, DEIB staff members will continue to serve the KU community offering campus programming and support that bolsters our ability to work with one another and to ensure that rights are protected and barriers to success are dismantled.

Sovereign Partnerships and Indigenous Initiatives

Lori Hasselman, who oversees Native American and Indigenous Initiatives in the Office of DEIB, will now work with Associate Professor Alex Red Corn, KU’s new director of KU’s Indigenous Studies Program and Associate Vice Chancellor for Sovereign Partnerships and Indigenous Initiatives. Alex and Lori will continue and strengthen our support for our Native and Indigenous students, staff and faculty, create new opportunities with our partners at Haskell Indian Nations University, and foster our connections with Native nations and tribal communities. 

Impact Advisors

Our Equity Advisors, working in almost all major academic and administrative units on the Lawrence and Edwards campuses, will have refreshed job titles and focused position descriptions as Impact Advisors, and these roles will now have dotted line reporting to OCRTIX. They will still be responsible for community care and culture development within their respective units, as well as responsibility for helping the leaders of those units continue to identify challenges and opportunities to improve access, belonging, respect and success of students, faculty and staff, as well as to help units prepare for our annual strategic alignment meetings.

A New Office of Community Impact

KU’s accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission, lists as Criteria 1C that “The Institution provides opportunities for civic engagement in a diverse, multicultural society and globally connected world, as appropriate within its mission and for the constituencies it services.”

KU also holds the Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement, and has responsibilities tied to federal initiatives, as well as numerous other accountabilities tied to specialized accreditations for various academic units. Each of these accountabilities is fundamentally integrated with our tri-partite academic mission of discovery, education and service.  

I’m particularly excited to announce that Nicole Hodges Persley, Vice Provost of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging and Professor of American Studies and African and African American Studies, has agreed to shifting her responsibilities to help us strengthen and better integrate our research, education, service with these goals and in service to these communities. Nicole’s title in this role will Vice Provost of Community Impact.

This critical work is in solid alignment with Nicole’s scholarship, insight and service, which have been invaluable to both the campus community and to KU senior leadership over the past three years. As Vice Provost of Diversity, Equity Inclusion & Belonging, Nicole has been instrumental in fostering an inclusive and equitable environment.

Through her leadership, KU has seen the implementation of comprehensive DEIB frameworks that support students, faculty and staff. She has championed programs that address systemic inequities, provided cultural competency training and has worked to promote a campus climate where each individual feels valued and respected. Nicole's approach has been holistic, data-driven and qualitative using insights from climate surveys and diversity metrics to inform policies and practices. She also has played a key role in crisis response and conflict resolution, ensuring that the university's response to DEIB-related issues is proactive and effective.  

I’ve asked Associate Professor of Applied Behavioral Science Jomella Watson-Thompson, who previously led the award-winning Center for Service Learning, to work with Nicole to spearhead this new campus initiative. Jomella will have a partial appointment as Associate Vice Provost of Community Impact.

We will provide a focused communication with more details about the charge of this office, its personnel, and steps forward in the near future.

These changes will be effective August 18.

Access, Belonging, Respect, Success

Several campus leaders have been involved in discussions about HB 2105’s impact and what it requires of our employees, including those individuals who are deeply involved in helping us build a culture that embraces access, belonging, respect and success for each person. Initial guidance shared on June 28 recommended a pause in DEIB committee work, which has generated additional discussion and questions.  

The law is very specific to the subjects of hiring, promotion, training, admissions and scholarship funding. We also know our DEIB committees address so many other topics. Please work within your committees to see if these other activities can be reframed and conducted under the guiding principles of Access, Belonging, Respect and Success. For example,

• Will it offer or improve access to all?
• Will it help each person belong?
• Does the activity foster respect for others, regardless of beliefs or backgrounds
• Does the committee’s work help further the success of each individual it impacts?

Most work that can be evaluated as supporting access, belonging, respect and success should continue. If you have additional questions about a specific committee, please call the Office of General Counsel. You can review other FAQs online.

Good People, Good Work

Staff from our DEIB office, now the OCRTIX Impact and Belonging Team, our campus Impact Advisors and many others on our campuses provide valuable support and vision for our community to help ensure that each person has the access and support they need to thrive.

As has been shared in previous messages and presentations, KU leadership is committed to fostering an environment where each member can feel they belong, where their colleagues and classmates offer them respect, where each member has access to academic and professional programs that help them develop and grow, and where each member of the community has the support they need to flourish and succeed.

Thank you for all you do for KU.

Respectfully,

Barb

Barbara A. Bichelmeyer

Provost & Executive Vice Chancellor