Self-deemed closet poet and musician Evelynn Ellis, the second candidate for the vice provost for Diversity, Access and Equity position, addressed her goals and answered questions at an open forum at Baker University Center yesterday.
Ellis, currently the director of Graduate Educational Equity at Pennsylvania State University, began her 20-minute speech with an excerpt from Maya Angelou's Still I Rise and used it as a framework for her main point of defending diversity in higher education.
Ellis said she wants to provide a setting where cultures can coincide with relative peace and that Ohio University has to be alert, vigilant and proactive because some universities have become complacent in their diversity goals.
Ellis' goals include involving faculty with diversity programs without impacting their tenure tract and improving the campus' lack of handicapped-accessible facilities by pointing out poor lighting and faults in sidewalks.
She also wants to improve communication between offices that she thinks are isolated because she feels that they can become more proactive together.
If you come together
there is nothing to lose Ellis said. All of us benefit in the end.
Ellis says her skill set would be best utilized at OU because she sees room for expansion, and, in the end, is supportive no matter which direction the university chooses.
Also, Ellis' unique background in music ' she plays and teaches clarinet ' relates to diversity because she see no two things exactly the same.
Once chosen, the vice provost for Diversity, Access and Equity will report to Executive Vice President and Provost Kathy Krendl. The next candidate will be on campus Oct. 1.
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Jordan Valinsky
