Southeast Missouri State University
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Ann K. Hayes (573) 651-2552
ahayes@semo.edu

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GILLESPIE NAMED ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT FOR EQUITY ISSUES

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo., June 27, 2003 – Dr. Mel Gillespie of Blacksburg, Va., and director of the Office of Equal Opportunity at Virginia Tech University, has been named the new assistant to the president for equity issues at Southeast Missouri State University.

The announcement was made following a closed session meeting of the Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents June 27.

Gillespie has more than 25 years experience in organizational diversity/equity theory and programming, affirmative action and equal employment opportunity work, organizational development, change management, minority/women business contracting, human resource management and staff development. He will begin his new duties July 31.

Dr. Pauline Fox, who recently retired from Southeast as vice president for administration and enrollment management, has been serving in the interim as assistant to the president for equity issues since James LaCour left Southeast last August to accept a position with the University of Northern Colorado-Greeley. LaCour recently passed away.

In his new position, Gillespie will report directly to Kenneth W. Dobbins, president of Southeast Missouri State University, and will serve on the executive staff as one of the President’s key advisors. He will be responsible for providing pro-active, campus-wide leadership, direction, and coordination in the areas of diversity and equity issues; supervising and developing approaches designed to enhance the University community’s appreciation for cultural diversity, its climate of tolerance, respect for the rights of all persons, and its adherence to affirmative action and equal opportunity; working to maintain effective and equitable processes for resolution of workplace issues; recommending policies and procedures related to equity and affirmative action and managing the Affirmative Action Program; working with members of the President’s Advisory Council for Minority Affairs, coordinating programs to assist the University in cultivating and retaining minority faculty, staff and students; and building, mantaining and reporting work force analyses.

Gillespie has more than 25 years experience in a broad range of equity and diversity areas, including employee and human relations, conflict resolution, policy development, diversity programming, equal opportunity, affirmative action practice and administration, and is a certified mediator. Gillespie also is a retired Air Force officer with a broad background of experience including having served as the director of social action and instructor at the Air Force Academy and instructor of minority studies at the Department of Defense Race Relations Institute.

Gillespie received his bachelor’s degree in education from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, in 1967, his master’s degree in human relations from the University of Oklahoma in 1977 and his doctoral degree in educational leadership from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Fla., in 1998.

 

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