Dr. Jason Brooks, assistant dean of students for diversity, equity and inclusion at Emporia State University, has been appointed as director of the University of Kentucky Martin Luther King Center, effective Sept. 24.
“I am very excited to have Jason join our campus community as the new director of the MLK Center,” said Dr. Sonja Feist-Price, president for institution diversity at UK.
Dr. Jason Brooks“He is extremely knowledgeable about issues involving diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, and Jason’s leadership skills, strategic vision and interpersonal skills will be instrumental in helping us broaden the scope of the MLK Center while also maintaining a community of belonging and engagement for African-American and Latinx students,” she added.
According to UK NOW, the director of the MLK Center is responsible for “strategic oversight of many of the most integral institutional initiatives focused on diversity, inclusion and belonging” that impact “thousands of students, faculty, staff and other community members each year.”
In addition, the position serves as a key role in the graduation, recruitment and retention of diverse student groups and supervises a “full-time professional team of three with a sizable budget” and flexibility to include scholarship and instruction within the Brooks’ discipline.
Brooks received both a bachelor’s and master’s in music with a concentration in horn performance from Emporia State University and an Ed.D. in higher education administration from Baker University.
Monica Levitan can be reached at [email protected]. You can follow her on Twitter @monlevy_.
