American University, Vice President of Inclusive Excellence

Nkenge Friday appointed the Vice President of Inclusive Excellence at American University. 

Nkenge Friday is a dedicated and experienced diversity and inclusion expert, with a broad range of impactful inclusive excellence leadership in higher education. Nkenge joins AU from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where she served as senior assistant vice chancellor for strategic initiatives. In this inaugural role, she served as a senior leader in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, working to develop the office’s strategic plan and with campus leaders and communities to develop and implement more than 20 inclusive excellence strategic plans and initiatives across the university’s colleges and administrative units. She inaugurated Nebraska’s annual diversity report, partnered with Human Resources to include inclusive excellence as an employee evaluation measure, instituted the first institution-wide diversity, equity, and inclusion awards, and expanded bias and climate-related reporting resources and infrastructure, leading to the creation of the Inclusive Campus Support Network. Nkenge also oversees the Office of Academic Support and Intercultural Services, a unit designed to enhance student success by promoting academic excellence, diversity awareness, and social engagement.

Prior to her time at Nebraska, Nkenge was associate dean of students and director of diversity and inclusion at Marietta College and the director of multicultural student affairs and admissions at the School for International Training (SIT) in Washington, DC. Nkenge holds a EdD in higher education leadership from Nova Southeastern University, an MA in international relations from the University of Oklahoma, and a MEd in diversity and equity in education from the University of Illinois. 

Read the full announcement here. 

Keight Tucker Kennedy led this search with Berlinda Mojica, Jonathan Sanchez, and Alexis Scott.