Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Donald “DJ” Mitchell, Jr., Ph.D., who began his role at Molloy in Feb 2022, reports directly to President James Lentini as a member of President Lentini’s Cabinet, the University’s senior leadership team. In his role, he serves as the key advisor to the President and Cabinet regarding University-wide diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and policies. DJ is the first person to hold the position at Molloy.
DJ is responsible for these functions, among others: the Center for Access and Disability (ACCESS); University-wide DEI Committee; Employee Affinity Groups; Campus Climate Surveys; DEI Strategic Planning; DEI advisor to President and Cabinet; and Collaboration with Human Resources and other offices for strategic diversity hiring and employee retention.
In his role, DJ often draws on his research and scholarship that explore race and racism, gender and sexism, and identity intersections and intersectionality within higher education contexts. Publishing over 50 scholarly works, DJ’s research and scholarship have received national recognition. He is the recipient of the Diverse: Issues in Higher Education’s 2020 Emerging Scholar recognition; the Ethnographic and Qualitative Research Conference’s 2016 McGraw Hill Distinguished Scholar Award; the American College Personnel Association’s 2015 Emerging Scholar Award; and, the Multicultural/Multiethnic Education Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association’s 2014 Dr. Carlos J. Vallejo Memorial Award for Emerging Scholarship, among other honors and awards.
DJ holds a Ph.D. in educational policy and administration with a concentration in higher education from the University of Minnesota—Twin Cities, a master’s degree in educational leadership from Minnesota State University, Mankato, and a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from Shaw University.