Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series profiling new staff in the Ohio University provost’s office.
For Shari Clarke, 82 miles is nothing if that daily commute from Huntington, W.Va., to Athens is separated by hours doing a job for which she has waited her entire career for.
On Tuesday, Ohio University Executive Vice President and Provost Pam Benoit announced Clarke, current vice president for multicultural affairs at Marshall University, had accepted the position as vice provost for diversity and inclusion at OU.
“During the interview process, it became apparent that Shari brings enthusiasm for working with all members of the campus community and has a clear affinity with students,” Pam Benoit, executive vice president and provost, said in a news release.
Clarke will leave her five-year position at Marshall to take over for Interim Vice Provost for Diversity and Inclusion David Descutner, who has held the role since Brian Bridges left to work for the United Negro College Fund in 2012.
Bridges made $142,957 during the 2011-12 academic year, according to a previous Post article.
“I am elated that she’s accepted the position, and when you look at her accomplishments as a leader and all of the achievements that she has had in her career … to be able to attract someone with those exemplary achievements … to OU … is such an honor,” Descutner said.
Clarke has spent years working as a leader in a variety of diversity positions, and at OU she will continue on a similar track, working to improve advocacy, education and information about diversity on campus.
“The biggest challenge for me is that I’m not a proven entity at OU. … I have to get out and get to know people,” she said. “Most importantly, I have to build relationships.”
Though “relationship” might be a strong term, Clarke has at least some experience with OU faculty, though it didn’t make her curriculum vitae.
While serving as special assistant to the president for diversity and equity at the University of Nebraska in the late 1990s, Clarke made an effort to step outside the office, an adventure that led her onto the Cornhuskers’ field with a well-known figure in Bobcats athletics.
Clarke shared the sidelines with OU’s current head football coach Frank Solich during a day offering some faculty members the chance to see what leading such an essential part of the campus’ culture really took.
Clarke is doubtful Solich would remember her from her sideline appearance, but he is just one of the many friendly faces Clarke said drew her to Athens.
“Everybody I met made me feel very welcomed,” Clarke said.
And beyond the people, Clarke said it’s hard to beat the beauty of Southeast Ohio.
“This is actually the place I’ve always wanted to be in a position I’ve always wanted to be in,” she said.
@ohitchcock
oh271711@ohiou.edu
