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By Larry B. Dendy
ldendy@uga.edu
The university will begin to seek candidates for a new senior administrative position that has been created to foster diversity and increase recruitment and retention of minority students and faculty.
 Karen Holbrook, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, has appointed a committee to conduct a national search to fill the position of associate provost for institutional diversity. Tom Dyer, acting vice president for instruction, will be chair of the committee, which includes three students and two staff members along with nine other faculty members.
Holbrook says the associate provost, who will report directly to her, will be responsible for developing a comprehensive program to promote equity and diversity across the campus.
“This person will work to improve existing programs, and guide new strategies and initiatives, in the areas of recruitment and retention of underrepresented individuals,” Holbrook says. “He or she will also help enhance the quality of the campus environment for minority students and faculty, and strengthen the curriculum as it reflects on diversity issues.”
The new associate provost will have the same complete responsibility for diversity issues that existing associate provosts for international studies and Honors studies have over their areas, Holbrook says.
Among specific tasks for the new associate provost will be:
• Planning and implementing new programs to ensure diversity and equity among all students, faculty and staff;
• Devising ways to monitor, evaluate and improve existing and new diversity programs;
• Creating ways to familiarize minority middle and high school students in Georgia and elsewhere with opportunities for intellectual and career success at UGA;
• Making sure that UGA’s curricula for both general education and major programs is “sensitive to the needs of all students”;
• Providing leadership for diversity outreach programs and services throughout Georgia, and serving as UGA’s liaison with local and national organizations that help in education of minority students.
 Holbrook notes that UGA already ranks 11th among the more than 125 major research universities in the United States in total tenured or tenure track African-American faculty. “We have also made significant progress in hiring Asian and Hispanic faculty,” she adds. “But we are unequivocally committed to increasing the diversity of our student body and our workforce, and establishing this new position is a major step to achieving that goal.”
University search committees normally are not chaired by a vice president, and Dyer’s appointment reflects the high importance of this search, Holbrook says.
“Tom has worked tirelessly throughout his career to make UGA a welcoming and engaging community for all students, faculty and staff,” Holbrook says. “His sensitivity and dedication to increased diversity will guide the committee in identifying a person who fully meets the goals of this search.”
Other faculty members on the search committee, in addition to Dyer, are Derrick Alridge, assistant professor of teacher education; William Barstow, professor of botany; Ronald Ellington, professor of law and former dean of the School of Law; Ron Baxter Miller, director of African-American studies; Velma Murry, associate professor of child and family development; Gordhan Patel, dean of the Graduate School; Leonard Poon, director of the Gerontology Center; Sherwood Thompson, director of minority services and programs; and Bonnie Yegidis, dean of the School of Social Work.
Staff representatives on the committee are Karen Webb, associate director of admissions, and Victor Wilson, associate vice president for student affairs. Student members of the committee are Renita Jain and Mark Anthony Thomas, undergraduates, and A. Monique Parkes, a graduate student.
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