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John Dozier to become ICEO March 15

Dozier will serve on the Academic Council

John H. Dozier has been appointed MIT’s next Institute Community and Equity Officer (ICEO). Dozier is currently the inaugural chief diversity officer and senior associate provost for inclusion at the University of South Carolina (USC) and will officially begin his role at MIT March 15.

President L. Rafael Reif announced Dozier’s appointment in an email to the MIT community Feb. 12.

Reif wrote that the ICEO is a “thought leader on the subjects of community, equity, inclusion and diversity, and a focal point for organizing MIT's related activities and conversations.” As ICEO, Dozier will report to Provost Martin Schmidt PhD ’88 and serve on the Academic Council.

Dozier has been at USC since 2013. Prior to this, he held multiple leadership positions in the Chicago community college system, which included chief information officer for the entire system and president of Kennedy-King College.

Dozier said in an interview with The Tech that his efforts at USC included leading a campaign to better engage the larger local community in the “difficult conversation on race.” This included the installation of markers on the USC campus to acknowledge the contributions of enslaved people in its construction and the organization of a youth summit.

Dozier told The Tech that he would establish goals for his work at MIT after taking some time to understand the community. He said his goals would include “development of a strategic plan, to focus the institute’s resources and efforts to make sure that we are achieving measurable outcome,” and that this will involve “engaging with the institute community in a way that we are able to understand the challenges involved.” 

“MIT is a special place, and I want to make sure I’m doing what I can to understand what the concerns are, broadly, so that we can make sure to be developing approaches … to uphold a community of belonging,” Dozier told The Tech.

Reif wrote that Dozier “brings to this role an outstanding record of leadership, great personal warmth and a sense of curiosity, enthusiasm and experimentation that feel very MIT.”

“To be in an environment with the application of technology and the way in which this community works to solve problems is, to me, invigorating,” Dozier said to The Tech. “I am looking forward to engaging with the students, faculty, and staff to do meaningful things that will create a sense of community.”