University of Iowa diversity head to leave

The University of Iowa is losing one of its strongest diversity and inclusion advocates. Georgina Dodge will leave campus next month for a similar post in rural Pennsylvania.

In her current role as chief diversity officer, associate vice president and Title IX coordinator, Dodge for years has been central in the university's response to issues involving racial tension, sexual misconduct and equal rights.

Dodge helped coordinate and lead both public and smaller group discussions after a UI student in spring 2016 announced he had been the victim of a racially fueled attack - a claim he later recanted. She responded publicly and to concerned students after a visiting professor in December 2014 erected a Ku Klux Klan-likened statue in the heart of campus.

Dodge has led bias-response efforts, coordinated improved services for veterans and helped the university survey its campus on issues of sexual violence.

On Wednesday, the university confirmed Dodge has accepted a position as associate provost for diversity, equity and inclusion at Bucknell University, a private institution in Lewisburg, Pa. She also will hold the title of adjunct associate professor of English.

Her last day at UI will be July 24.

In a statement, UI President Bruce Harreld said, 'Georgina has played an important role in positively shaping our university's culture. As chief diversity officer and Title IX coordinator, she has been a strong advocate for the rights of all members of our community. She will be sorely missed, and we wish her well in her new role at Bucknell University.”

Before UI hired Dodge as its first permanent chief diversity officer in 2010, she spent 14 years at Ohio State University, supporting underrepresented students, faculty and staff through the Office of Minority Affairs. She also directed the Department of African American and African Studies Community Extension Center and served as an assistant professor in the English Department.

Dodge, whose current salary is $233,966, has a doctorate in English from University of California-Los Angeles and is an adjunct associate professor of English - with interests in multiracial literatures, autobiography and cultural studies, according to a UI staff biography.

She serves on the national board of directors for the Association of Title IX Administrators and on the boards of the United Way of Johnson and Washington Counties, the Iowa Network for Women in Higher Education, Humanities Iowa and the Stanley Foundation.

She previously served a six-year enlistment in the Navy, serving as an electronics technician on communications, radar and meteorological equipment, according to her biography.

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