MU Deputy Chancellor Names Worthington as Chief Diversity Officer
May 5, 2008
Story Contact: Christian Basi, (573) 882-4430, BasiC@missouri.edu
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Deputy Chancellor Mike Middleton has appointed Roger L. Worthington as Chief Diversity Officer for the University of Missouri. Worthington will coordinate the Chancellor’s Diversity Initiative, support MU’s commitment to equal opportunity and affirmative action, and serve as a consultant on matters of diversity initiatives being sponsored and funded by the university. Priorities of the Chancellor’s Diversity Initiative include efforts to increase the diversity of faculty, staff and students and to promote a welcoming and inclusive campus climate.
“It has been wonderful to serve the MU community over the past 11 years as a faculty member, faculty fellow to the Deputy Chancellor and Interim Chief Diversity Officer, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to continue serving in this role on a permanent basis as the Assistant Deputy Chancellor for Diversity,” Worthington said. “I am pleased to join the faculty, staff, students and administration all across campus working to advance the vision of this institution toward inclusive excellence.”
Worthington received his doctorate from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1995. He spent three years as an assistant professor in the Department of Counseling and Developmental Psychology and Research Methods at Boston College. In 1997, he became assistant professor in the Department of Educational, School and Counseling Psychology at the University of Missouri.
Worthington has served as Interim Chief Diversity Officer at MU. In this role, he provided vision, leadership, coordination and oversight to campus-wide diversity efforts. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education. He serves on the editorial board of the journal Diversity in Higher Education and is serving as guest editor of the forthcoming special issue on Measurement and Assessment in Campus Climate Research. He also serves on the American Psychological Association Task Force on appropriate therapeutic responses to sexual orientation.
“We are very pleased that Dr. Worthington has agreed to assume this very important leadership role on campus,” Middleton said. “He brings to the position great organizational skills, incredible energy and a remarkable vision of the inclusive excellence for which we strive. I am confident that Roger will provide strong leadership for our ongoing effort to nurture a campus community that appreciates and reaps the vast benefits of its diversity.”
Worthington is a nationally recognized scholar on issues of human diversity in counseling and education and has held numerous leadership roles at MU, including membership on the Chancellor’s Strategic Planning and Resource and Advisory Council, Faculty Council, and Gaines-Oldham Black Culture Center Advisory Council. In addition to his role in the Chancellor’s Diversity Initiative, Worthington is a licensed psychologist and associate professor of educational, school and counseling psychology. He has won numerous awards for service and teaching excellence, including the MU Graduate Professional Council’s Gold Chalk Award.
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