Sacred Heart University has announced the appointment of Maurice Nelson as the new chief diversity and inclusion officer. For Nelson, who held a similar position at Yale University”™s School of Nursing, the Fairfield-based school”™s commitment to the concept of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) was highly appealing.
“I was really attracted by the institution”™s social justice mission since its inception,” he said. “Especially since predominantly white institutions weren”™t founded with social justice in mind.”
Over the next few weeks, Sacred Heart will be developing a new unit within its structure called the Office of Diversity and Inclusion to accommodate Nelson”™s work.
“My role will be to ensure that over the lifespan of that strategic plan that it is successfully implemented and will filter to every area of the institution,” he continued. “I will be working with all of the people who have specifically DEIB within their purview and also help other people who don”™t have that specifically in their job description to understand their role in that work.”
Prior to arriving at Yale in April 2021, Nelson led DEIB initiatives at Georgia State University’s Statesboro campus, and he acknowledged there was a slight culture shock going from a public university to the Ivy League.
“Yale has hundreds of years”™ worth of history and its way of operating is, in general, very different than what I”™m used to ”” in a sense that a lot of its operations are decentralized, which has its pros and cons,” he recalled. “In some ways, that allowed us to move things quickly because we didn”™t have to go through so many other channels. But in other ways, it could be a challenge to kind of centralize and streamline certain processes.”
Nelson is also in pursuit of his doctorate degree, and he laughs when he gets asked where he is getting time to be both a college administrator and student.
“I”™m a very organized person and that helps me manage all of my responsibilities successfully,” he said. “I have to always connect it to a calendar ”” I think ahead and plan for things that I can foresee, and I make room for incidentals because they do occur.”
Looking ahead 12 months, Nelson predicted the implementation of his DEIB strategic plan will further enhance the sense of inclusion within the school.
“A year from now, I hope that more and more people feel a genuine sense of belonging,” he said.
