Mizzou has a new “Vice-Chancellor of Inclusion, Diversity & Equity”

University of Missouri leaders have announced a series of actions to address inequities and inclusion, including supervisor training to address acts of discrimination and a review of the MU Police “use of force” policies and de-escalation tactics.

The newly-hired Vice-Chancellor of Inclusion, Diversity & Equity —  Maurice Gipson– will oversee much of this work. He says Mizzou’s program is uncommon because of the “stable infrastructure” it now has in place,  “With this type of capacity, over 30 fulltime staff members and another 30 or so part-time, having an infrastructure that large just speaks to Mizzou’s commitment,” Gipson told News Talk KZRG

Gipson was in a similar position at Arkansas State University before coming to Mizzou. He says providing off-campus experiences were an important part of his success, “Making sure that our students have these transformational experiences which they are engaged with people they are less familiar with or go and engage with students from around the country, I think that helps them become better global citizens.”

Gipson’s vision is that everyone who wants a college education should be able to achieve one. He was the first in his family to go to college and was from a poor family.

“If you want to have just a conversation just about race and ethnicities, then we are not going to have a productive and fruitful conversation because diversity is so much more than that. An issue that is very near and dear to me is making sure that we can pull our students out of some of this cyclical poverty,”