Appointment of Andrea Taylor as Senior Diversity Officer
August 10, 2020
Dear Faculty and Staff of Boston University,
I am writing to announce another important development in our growing efforts to make Boston University truly diverse, inclusive, and antiracist.
Andrea Taylor, Boston University Trustee, alumna, and distinguished leader in the nonprofit and corporate worlds, will become the University’s first Senior Diversity Officer, reporting to the President and joining the senior leadership of the University. Her primary responsibility will be to ensure that our efforts to deepen diversity and ensure equity are coordinated, consistent, and consequential across the entire University. She will share accountability for progress with me. Andrea will work with me and the University’s leadership to transparently improve and coordinate policies, strategies, and processes that affect the diversity of the institution.
Andrea will also chair a new Antiracism Working Group composed of leaders from across the University. BU already has a number of important diversity and inclusion initiatives underway in different parts of the institution. From each of the individual schools and colleges, to the Dean of Students Office, to Enrollment & Student Administration (ENSA), to the Office of Community & Inclusion in the Provost’s Office—all of these areas, and many more, have devoted attention to these issues. These units are directed by outstanding leaders who have a passion for diversity and inclusion; the academic deans, Kenn Elmore, Christine McGuire, and Crystal Williams, to name just a few. While each of them will continue their distinct leadership efforts and maintain their existing organizational reporting relationships, we believe that their work, and the University’s commitment to it, can be amplified by having one person, Andrea Taylor, connect and support all of these pieces at the most senior level of the University. The new Antiracism Working Group provides a platform where that will happen.
Andrea also will serve with University Provost Jean Morrison and me as liaison to the Boston University Board of Trustees as we work with the Board on these critical issues. Since 2009, Andrea has served as a Trustee of Boston University, with her service including terms as chair of the Academic Affairs Committee and membership on the Executive Committee. She will resign from the Board as she begins this new role in the University’s leadership.
Ms. Taylor comes to us as an established national leader in civil rights and social justice, with deep experience in creating and implementing metric-driven institutional plans and broad experience working with boards of trustees of not-for-profit institutions. Most recently, she served as the President and CEO of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. Before that, she was Director of Citizenship & Public Affairs for North America at Microsoft Corporation. Andrea is a graduate of the College of Communication at Boston University and began her journalism career by working as a reporter for the Boston Globe, followed by producing and working as an on-air host for WGBH-TV.
With the leadership in place and the Board’s support, the University is set to accelerate and sustain the hard work of making our community truly inclusive and diverse.
Sincerely,
Robert A. Brown
President