Chief diversity officer position is new path to presidency
When Glendell Jones Jr. became the 17th president of Henderson State University six years ago, few watchers in higher education circles saw his ascendancy as a shift in the profile of college presidents. As noteworthy as it was that he was the first African-American to serve as president or chancellor of a non-historically black college or university in Arkansas, less noted was another position he’d once held that is increasingly viewed as a possible path to the presidency: executive assistant to the chancellor for diversity initiatives. Several other former college administrators who’ve served as chief diversity officers, or CDOs -- a now common catchall term for positions such as vice chancellor for diversity and climate, vice president for institutional diversity, dean of diversity and academic engagement, and vice president for strategic and diversity initiatives -- have become college or university presidents in recent years. And as the list grows, some people are starting to describe, albeit cautiously, what is happening as a trend
