“I hope to bring a continued concern among previous and present administrators to move our community in the direction of justice and equality.”
– Anthony Lemelle, new associate vice chancellor of Diversity and Climate

Sociology professor Anthony Lemelle has been appointed the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s associate vice chancellor of Diversity and Climate and will be formally installed on Jan. 2.

“We’re really looking forward to adding Anthony to the Provost’s Office so we can align the Provost’s Office with the chancellor’s goals of advancing diversity and research on campus,” said Provost and Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Rita Cheng.

Cheng said there was a “strong pool” of candidates for the position and Lemelle already has a clear vision for his position.

“I hope to bring a continued concern among previous and present administrators to move our community in the direction of justice and equality,” Lemelle said.

As associate vice chancellor, Lemelle’s responsibilities will be to implement the Milwaukee Commitment, UWM’s diversity plan; execute Access to Success, which ensures academic support for at-risk students; and oversee faculty and staff diversity training and the affirmative action plan.

Lemelle will also have oversight of the Academic Opportunity Center, the Multicultural Student Center and the Roberto Hernandez Center. He will also serve on committees such as the LGBT Advisory Committee, Women in Science and Engineering and the Affirmative Action in Faculty Employment Committee.

In addition, Lemelle will be the university’s liasion to the UW System regarding diversity and climate.

Lemelle said programs like these make UWM a model of diversity in many respects, and he believes it is these programs that help prepare the campus community to be global citizens.

“These units, colleges, schools and many departments and programs on campus … allow us to communicate the American creed and truly develop ourselves at our different stages in life and throughout the full life course into truly global citizens,” Lemelle said.

Lemelle is a professor in the Department of Sociology and a former chair of the Department of Africology. He holds a doctorate from the University of California-Berkeley, and has held several administrative posititions related to diversity, inclusion and tolerance.

Lemelle’s personal and academic research interests include African American culture, masculinity and HIV/AIDS. For more than 20 years, he has researched, written about and taught race relations and other similar issues.

As associate vice chancellor for Diversity and Climate, Lemelle has high hopes for the future of the university and for the nation.

“My hope is that all U.S. citizens would one day feel that they are treated fairly and are indeed treated fairly regardless of individual and group differences,” he said. “We are a long way from that day and we will have to work hard to achieve this lofty, but attainable, goal.”

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