Dr. Kevin McDonald, vice chancellor of inclusion, diversity and equity at the University of Missouri and the chief diversity officer for the University of Missouri System, will become the University of Virginia’s vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion Aug. 1.
Dr. Kevin McDonaldMcDonald, whose salary will be $340,000, said he looks forward to recruiting and engaging diverse students, faculty and staff and developing a more outward-looking university that better engages the surrounding community, according to a story in The Daily Progress.
McDonald led Missouri’s flagship university through the aftermath of race-related turmoil in fall 2015 that saw top administrators forced out and criticism from state legislators. Protest demands included a request to increase Black faculty from 3 percent to 10 percent. According to recent data, the percentage of Black faculty remains largely unchanged.
He also established MU’s first diversity strategic plan, which was integrated within the UM system’s overall strategic plan, and implemented a diversity certificate program and resources intended to improve civility, conflict-resolution skills and multicultural competencies. The effort included a goal to increase faculty from underrepresented groups from 8 percent in 2017 to 15 percent in 2023.
McDonald has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Andrews University, a law degree from Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law and a doctorate of education from the University of Rochester.
In the past, he served as vice president for equity and inclusion at Virginia Tech and vice president and associate provost for diversity and inclusion at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He also has held roles at the University of Maryland at College Park and Johns Hopkins University and is an affiliate faculty member of the Race and Equity Institute at the University of Southern California.
