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Committee decides on 3 finalists for vice provost
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by Lauren Cohen
Thursday, November 8, 2007
A search-and-screen committee named three finalists for the
University of Wisconsin's Vice Provost for Diversity and Climate Wednesday.
The names were passed on to Chancellor John Wiley and
Provost Patrick Farrell, who will make a final decision on the position.
The next step for the candidates is to visit campus and host
public interviews and question and answer sessions, according to Dawn Crim,
acting special assistant to the chancellor for communication relations.
Crim said the 13-person committee, comprised of students,
faculty and staff, recommended Kenneth Durgans, Seema Kapani and Damon Williams
for the position Wednesday.
"The committee's work is done, and the final decision is the
chancellor and the provost’s, with feedback from the campus," Crim said, adding
finalists will visit UW by the end of the semester.
Secretary of the Academic Staff Colleen McCabe said the vice
provost will be the senior diversity officer for the campus and will represent
Farrell on matters relating to diversity.
Kenneth Durgans is currently the vice provost for institute
diversity at Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute in Troy, N.Y.
Durgans said he was "responsible for the strategic planning
and implementation of diversity initiatives across all schools and programs" at
Rensselaer.
If selected vice provost, Durgans said his first tasks would
be getting accustomed to the university and working with departments on
strategies to enhance diversity at UW.
"Diversity is a very practical strategy to strengthening
universities and the country," Durgans said.
Durgans earned a doctorate
in education from Western Michigan University. He also holds a Master of
Science degree in school counseling from the University of Dayton, a Master of
Arts degree in college student personnel from Kent State University and a
bachelor's degree in political science and history from Baldwin-Wallace College,
according to his résumé.
Seema Kapani, UW
Campus Diversity Education Coordinator, said being vice provost would be an
expansion of the work she has been doing for the last 10 years.
"I would have support from the top leadership, and this is
an incredible multiplying factor to continue with my work," Kapani said.
Kapani added her job as a diversity education coordinator
was to develop initiatives on equity and diversity issues.
"It's impossible to create excellence without having the
diversity of perspectives," Kapani said. "Everyone has some egocentrism, and
the question is: How do we expand our consciousness, skills and capacities to
accept diversity?"
Kapani’s résumé states
she earned a Master of Arts degree in medical and psychiatric social work from
the Indian Institute of Social Welfare & Business in Calcutta, India. She also
earned Master of Science and doctorate degrees in sociology from UW.
Damon Williams is currently
the assistant vice provost in
the Office of the Vice Provost for Multicultural and International Affairs at
the University of Connecticut-Storrs.
"I adore UConn, but this is an opportunity for me to embrace
a new challenge," Williams said.
If selected vice provost, Williams said he would have to
learn the school's environment including the culture, the people and the
school's existing initiatives for diversity.
"I would ask: What initiatives do we already have around the
issue of diversity, whether it’s students affairs, human resources or
educational curriculum?" Williams said. "Then I would ask: How can we as a
community improve what we already have?"
Williams graduated from
Miami University with a bachelor's in sociology and African American studies
and a Master of Science degree in college student personnel services. Williams
was granted a doctorate degree in Higher Education from the University of
Michigan, according to his résumé.
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