On July 15, Elizabeth A. "Beta" Mannix, the Ann Whitney Olin Professor of Management at Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management and the Robert S. Harrison Director of the University's Institute for Social Sciences, became Cornell’s vice provost for equity and inclusion.
The position is a one-year transitional post as the vice provost for diversity and faculty development spot becomes the future vice provost for diversity and chief diversity officer spot. Robert L. Harris, the former vice provost for diversity and faculty development, said Mannix’s role will include supervising the University’s diversity initiatives. These include the summer institute for diversity, the Breaking Bread program and the University Diversity Committee Working Group.
The University began the search for the new the vice provost for diversity and chief diversity officer last fall after Harris announced that he would return to teaching in the Africana Studies program in the fall of 2008.
Mannix, whose research focuses on organizational diversity, the effects of diversity on group performance, effective performance in management teams and organizational change, told the University, “I am eager to build on the foundational work of recent years and work with others across the University to design and implement a plan to achieve our diversity goals.”