MSU has chosen a national search firm and named a campus committee in its efforts to fill the associate vice president position for the Office for Civil Rights and Title IX Education and Compliance.
Isaacson Miller, based in Boston, will work with six campus leaders during the search. Finalists will be brought to campus in the spring, and faculty, staff and students will have the chance to meet with them.
The campus search committee includes Michael Zeig, chief of staff for the president; Philip Strong, interim dean of students; Robert Young, vice president and general counsel; Rebecca Campbell, professor of psychology and chairperson of the Relationship Violence and Sexual Misconduct Workgroup; Marilyn Tarrant, associate vice president and chief audit, risk and compliance officer; and Jennifer Smith, senior women’s administrator and senior associate athletics director.
The Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Education and Compliance, currently led on an interim basis by Robert Kent, is responsible for the departments that investigate civil rights and Title IX complaints as well as prevention, education and outreach efforts. The office, formed in March, also coordinates with MSU entities that provide crisis and advocacy services to survivors of sexual assault and relationship violence.
Since spring, MSU’s Title IX office has expanded from 17 to 32 employees, and the 2018-19 budget includes funding for 13 new Title IX and related positions, including preventive and investigative staff; 10 positions in Counseling and Psychiatric Services; six new positions including advocacy, crisis intervention, and counseling staff in the Sexual Assault Program; four new MSU Police officers; two new Employee Assistance positions; and two positions in the new Office of Enterprise Risk Management, Ethics, and Compliance.
Additionally, the Office for Civil Rights, in partnership with Human Resources, launched a leadership development training program in March 2018 for supervisors and administrators focused on prevention and response to harassment and discrimination.