Extensive search produces next leader of diversity, equity and inclusion for MSU

<p>Bennett most recently served as Northwestern University's inaugural associate provost for diversity and inclusion and its chief diversity officer. As vice president and chief diversity officer, Bennett will report directly to President Stanley and work collaboratively with other university senior executives, deans, faculty, staff, and students to develop and implement a comprehensive diversity, equity, and inclusion plan.</p><p>“We are living through an intense period of reckoning around issues of racial justice at the moment in our culture; that's one of the reasons why this is important,” says <a href="https://twitter.com/cplong">Chris Long</a>, dean of MSU’s College of Arts and Letters and co-chair of the search committee.</p><p>“As we think about the commitment that Michigan State University has to excellent research and teaching, we know that commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is at the heart of that mission of excellence. We know that science is better when it is undertaken in diverse communities. We know that the questions we ask in the humanities and the social sciences and the arts that we undertake are better when we have diverse voices in the process. This position is at the heart of Michigan State University's effort to be a premier research and teaching university in the country.”</p><p>“You cannot have excellence at any level, whether it be academic, administrative, or in our outreach mission to the community without an eye to diversity, equity, and inclusion,” adds <a href="https://twitter.com/mzyw">Melissa Woo</a>, executive vice president for administration and chief information officer and co-chair of the search committee. “This is so important at this time. It's past time and this is the time to really focus on having someone come in, give us a vision that brings all of us together as a community, and really helps us to understand what it means to get to the next level in truly having a diverse community. One that provides equity and is inclusive.”</p><p>Long and Woo des