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Dear AU community,
The values that shape us as a community—among them knowledge, inclusion, and human dignity—have some of their greatest impact when they are part of both our vision and our daily work. Leaders who partner with the community to carry our values and our university forward are vital to AU’s future. Today I want to talk about two leaders who will help us continue momentum in two critical and interconnected parts of our mission—our academic vision and our commitment to inclusive excellence (IE).
To lead our academic vision onward in partnership with our expert faculty, Vicky Wilkins will serve as acting provost for two years. From supporting our faculty in the classroom and in their research to co-chairing the University Budget Committee, Vicky’s work in the provost’s office is critical to the success of our mission and our students.
To write the next chapter of our inclusive excellence story, Nkenge Friday will join us as the vice president of inclusive excellence. As we communicated when we announced the search, this important role was created to bring together the broad range of our IE from across campus, including equity and Title IX, and help drive the development of the next phase of the IE plan. Inclusive excellence is a cornerstone of our Changemakers strategy, and with more than five years of progress and learning, we are now at a stage where the new vice president can build on our momentum and shape the important work that we know we have to do moving forward. Nkenge will help enhance communication and engagement across our community and work with faculty and staff to inform the IE work with the latest research.
Vicky Wilkins became acting provost this summer, and she has now graciously agreed to serve in the role for a two-year period that culminates in summer 2025. Vicky’s commitment to leading academic affairs for two years is a critical element of continuity during the upcoming presidential transition. In planning this approach, I consulted with the Faculty Senate, deans, and others to hear what our faculty needed in this time and ensure we are supporting the faculty and the overall community. Vicky’s leadership and this timing will enable the next AU president to work with faculty members and others across our community on the collaborative search process that will identify the next permanent provost. Community participation in the provost search, particularly from our faculty and the staff in academic affairs, is fundamental. With the presidential search ongoing this year, it is important for the community to have the space to fully engage each process in its own time. This approach will provide the right support and focus for the community, give the new president the appropriate opportunity to lead the search process, afford us the ability to minimize transitions, and contribute to the ultimate success of the provost search.
Vicky’s academic leadership, impactful scholarship, and student-centered engagement will continue as focal points in the provost’s office. In recent months, she enhanced transparency in academic affairs regarding salary and budget planning, advanced implementation of the term faculty continuing appointment process, and strengthened shared governance with the Faculty Senate. As dean of the School of Public Affairs, Vicky led SPA to become a top 10 public affairs school in the nation, collaborated with SPA faculty members to produce a 58 percent growth in the school’s externally funded portfolio between 2019 and 2023, and built community through the SPA Traditions program, Late-Night Breakfasts during finals, and the SPA book club and the Policy Hackathon. Vicky’s leadership in many areas, including advancing our academic vision and co-chairing the university budget committee, is fundamental to our success.
Nkenge Friday is a dedicated and experienced diversity and inclusion expert, with a broad range of impactful inclusive excellence leadership in higher education. Nkenge joins AU from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where she served as senior assistant vice chancellor for strategic initiatives. In this inaugural role, she served as a senior leader in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, working to develop the office’s strategic plan and with campus leaders and communities to develop and implement more than 20 inclusive excellence strategic plans and initiatives across the university’s colleges and administrative units. She inaugurated Nebraska’s annual diversity report, partnered with Human Resources to include inclusive excellence as an employee evaluation measure, instituted the first institution-wide diversity, equity, and inclusion awards, and expanded bias and climate-related reporting resources and infrastructure, leading to the creation of the Inclusive Campus Support Network. Nkenge also oversees the Office of Academic Support and Intercultural Services, a unit designed to enhance student success by promoting academic excellence, diversity awareness, and social engagement.
Prior to her time at Nebraska, Nkenge was associate dean of students and director of diversity and inclusion at Marietta College and the director of multicultural student affairs and admissions at the School for International Training (SIT) in Washington, DC. In addition to her work and education in diversity and inclusion, Nkenge also has international experience that is particularly important as we think about IE from a global perspective and address issues around the world that impact our inclusion goals. Nkenge holds a doctor of education in higher education leadership from Nova Southeastern University, a master of arts in international relations from the University of Oklahoma, and a master of education in diversity and equity in education from the University of Illinois. Nkenge’s first day at American will be January 16, 2024, as we begin the spring semester.
Roger Fairfax, dean of the Washington College of Law and chair of the vice president for inclusive excellence search committee, said, “It was an honor to lead this broadly representative search committee of staff, faculty, administrators, students, and alumni in this effort. The search committee worked tirelessly over the summer and early fall to engage a deep pool of talented candidates. I am excited to see how Nkenge brings her vision and energy to this critically important leadership role at AU.”
I want to thank Dean Fairfax and the members of the search committee. Their dedicated efforts produced an impressive and robust candidate pool. My gratitude also to Sarah Baldassaro for serving as interim vice president of inclusive excellence. Nkenge will work with Sarah, as well as other key leaders including Leslie Annexstein and Amanda Taylor, as she transitions into her role.
Please join me in congratulating Vicky and Nkenge.
Sincerely,
Sylvia