Acting Vice Provost of the Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity Linda McCabe Smith announced earlier this year that she would be stepping down in early February to go back to working for the College of Education here at NC State.
The Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity works to provide an inclusive and diverse atmosphere for students, faculty and staff at NC State. The OIED ensures that there is equal opportunity for all, targets awareness of diversity issues that are in education and helps to strengthen relationships throughout all diverse groups here on campus.
On March 1, Sheri Schwab will begin as the interim Vice Provost for the OIED.
“Sheri has a lot of experience, she has previously served in the office of equal opportunity as an investigator under Joanne Woodard,” the OIED Provost Warwick Arden said. “She has many years of experience on the equity side especially.”
Arden applauds Schwab on her background and expertise for this role.
“She has a law degree from NC Central, then went to work for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences here at NC State and is now director of County Operations for Cooperative Extensions, meaning she is responsible for 101 officers throughout the state,” Arden said. “She has a tremendous amount of management and personality experience as well as a background in equity.”
Until 2011, the vice provost was split into two different positions, one vice provost for equity and another vice provost for diversity and inclusion. About six and a half years ago, at the beginning of the new strategic plan, the single vice provost role was formed.
McCabe Smith acted as vice provost for close to two years before stepping down. Before McCabe Smith, Joanne Woodard served as vice provost starting in 2011 when the positions were combined. Woodard served as the vice provost for equal opportunity before the combination.
In between Woodard and McCabe Smith, Amy Circosta, who had previously been the director of the harassment and discrimination unit, acted as the interim vice provost while the University conducted a national search, which resulted in McCabe Smith’s appointment.
With McCabe Smith stepping down in early February and Sheri Schwab starting on March 1, OIED needed to fill about a three-week period. Marie Williams, the associate vice chancellor of human resources, stepped in to oversee the day-to-day operations in the meantime.
“We’ve got continuity there, there is no lag or delays,” said Arden regarding the transition process.
Colleagues and directors within the OIED see no problem with the changes to come. Reggie Barnes, senior director of campus community centers, recognizes that the priorities will stay the same and will advance the evolution of the OIED.
“We will continue to strengthen our unit-wide focus of establishing our priorities, mission, vision, everything,” Barnes said. “One continued evolution for the Bias Incident Response Team is to really provide more transparency as far as what the reporting and response process looks like, exactly how the program has supported the University and to really engage more people in conversations about what a culture of support looks like.”
Arden, Williams and Schwab have met with the staff as a unit to go through the process and what it will entail. There is much communication between everyone in the unit to implement a smooth transition.
Williams and Schwab are working together to make sure they are both aware of all issues that come up and how to handle those moving forward.
“Marie is meeting and talking with Sheri on an almost daily basis. Sheri winds down her activities in cooperative extension,” Arden said. “The three of us are talking as well, so there is a lot of ongoing communication between me, Marie, Sheri, and others in the University to make sure we have a smooth transition.”
Although there is no set date for how long Schwab will act as interim, Arden anticipates that they will begin a national search for a new, full-time vice provost by fall 2019.
