KU News Release

Bryan named to lead faculty, staff diversity recruitment efforts

Maurice Bryan

LAWRENCE — Maurice Bryan, who served eight years as director of equal opportunity at the University of Kansas until 2001, is returning to KU to lead the university’s faculty and staff minority recruitment efforts, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Richard Lariviere announced today.

Bryan, who recently served three years as provost at Ottawa University, begins his new duties today as associate vice provost for diversity and equity. He will advise the chancellor, provost and other top administrators on diversity issues and focus on the recruitment, retention and development of under-represented faculty and staff.

“We want to offer students the richest possible mix of perspectives, life experiences and cultures on our campus. And to foster such a vibrant and inclusive learning environment for students, we must have a diverse faculty,” Lariviere said. “Maurice knows this university, he knows diversity matters and he has the knowledge and skills to lead this important effort.”

Chancellor Robert Hemenway set goals of increasing female and minority faculty a decade ago. Since then minority faculty ranks have increased 75 percent, from 200 in 1997 to 350 in 2006, and a 41 percent increase in female faculty, from 670 to 948 last fall.

Bryan also will evaluate the success of existing diversity programs on campus and coordinate various multicultural initiatives.

He earned a doctorate in American studies at KU this summer. His doctoral studies centered on the representation of race and gender within visual culture, in particular images of black masculinity in the works of the late Gordon Parks, a renowned photojournalist, author and filmmaker from Fort Scott.

“Diversity is about welcoming the challenge of engaging with difference, about our willingness to have our lives impacted by ideas, people, values, perspectives or lifestyles that run counter to our comfort zone,” Bryan said. “Our ultimate objective is to prepare students to live in an increasingly complex and multicultural society. As a distinctive institution we must be committed to the value of thoroughly integrating theory and practice.”

Bryan earned his bachelor’s degree at Ottawa University and a master’s degree at Western Washington University in Bellingham. He was director of Western Washington’s Center for Equal Opportunity for three years before being name director of equal opportunity at KU in 1993. After leaving that post in 2001 to begin his doctoral studies, he was named provost at Ottawa University in 2003. He oversaw the university’s academics, budget, student development, athletics, facilities and campus ministries.

As KU’s equal opportunity director, Bryan advised administrators from the chancellor to department chairs on on recruitment of faculty and unclassified staff, as well as implementation of policies and programs.

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