Reif to appoint new Institute Community and Equity Officer
Reif to appoint new Institute Community and Equity Officer
Yesterday, in an email addressed to the MIT community, President L. Rafael Reif announced the creation of a new position — the “Institute Community and Equity Officer,” or ICEO. The position will be filled by a member of the MIT faculty, and that the officer will serve as “a senior member of the administration,” wrote Reif in his email.
In the message, Reif outlined his vision for the role of the ICEO. The officer, he wrote, will be a “thought leader on the subjects of community, equity, inclusion, and diversity,” leading and organizing MIT’s activities related to those subjects. The ICEO will also be a “hands-on practicioner” of policies and best practices regarding equity and diversity, and will be responsible for “[leading] MIT to make practical progress toward our vision on a daily basis,” continued Reif.
Reif stated in the email that creation of the position was driven by his desire to “cultivate a caring community focused on MIT’s shared values of excellence, meritocracy, openness, integrity and mutual respect.” He also thanked MIT’s Associate Provosts for Faculty Equity, Wesley L. Harris and Barbara H. Liskov, for “their sustained leadership on questions of equity and inclusion.” In that role, Harris helped produce a comprehensive report on faculty equity in January 2010, and Liskov assisted with a 2011 study on faculty gender equity.
Any member of the MIT community can recommend faculty candidates, or voice thoughts about the position, to Provost Christopher A. Kaiser ’87.
—Jake H. Gunter