After a long search process, Jabbar R. Bennett will serve as Northwestern’s inaugural associate provost for diversity and inclusion and associate professor of medicine.
Bennett will join Northwestern after serving as associate dean for diversity and director of the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs at Brown University. He is passionate about diversity and inclusion in higher education, and at Northwestern, he will chair the Diversity Council and is responsible for leading efforts to make all Northwestern community members feel more welcome and included.
“Jabbar Bennett’s experience will build on the University’s current efforts to increase and support faculty, staff, students and alumni diversity, while also creating new initiatives to make Northwestern a leader in this arena,” Northwestern Provost Daniel Linzer said.
As part of the search process, Northwestern held two open fora on the Chicago and Evanston campuses in February for students to voice their opinions on what types of qualities, skills and experiences candidates for the position should have.
Bennett has 13 years of faculty experience in higher education and has worked in many national organizations to empower numbers of underrepresented minorities in graduate and medical education.