Dr. Carol E. Henderson is the vice provost for diversity and inclusion, chief diversity officer, and adviser to the president at Emory University. She previously served as the vice provost for diversity at the University of Delaware (UD), where she led the university in a diversity, equity, and inclusion strategic planning process that garnered UD three institutional awards. Prior to her appointment as vice provost for diversity, Henderson served as associate director/director of undergraduate studies of Black American Studies, and subsequently became the first chair of the department. Henderson has spent over twenty-five years in higher education, over two decades teaching in the classroom, and is the recipient of several community, professional, and research awards, including the 2023 NADOHE Rising Star Award.
Henderson serves on a number of professional, civic, and communal boards including the Academic Leadership Institute (ALI) Advisory Board, the FWCA National Advisory Board, the Metropolitan Atlanta Chamber of Commerce DEI Roundtable Group, the James Baldwin Review editorial board, the American Association of Universities (AAU) Chief Diversity Officer Steering Committee, and is chair of the board of advisors for For Peace I Rise, Inc., an initiative that honors the life, legacy, and love story of Rev. Dr. C.T. Vivian and Octavia Means Vivian in arts, archives, curricula, just to name a few.
Henderson received her undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles, her Master of Arts in English from California State University, Dominguez Hills, and her doctorate from the University of California, Riverside. She is Professor Emerita of English and Africana Studies at the University of Delaware.
Why are you a member of NADOHE?
It is a gift to be able to find a community of stellar colleagues who share your commitment to this work and who are dedicated to ensuring all students have the ability to thrive in academic environments that affirm their humanity, and advocate that academic resources are there to support them. This advocacy extends to faculty professors and staff at our institutions as we work to ensure they have intellectual communities that value their research, establish achievable career pathways, and allows individuals to bring their whole selves to work, to teach, and innovate. The NADOHE community understands that education is still one of the most powerful tools for social mobility, which supports a thriving democracy and the common good. Webinars and scholarly discussions throughout the year provide an intellectual compass for critical and innovative thought leadership in diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and social justice. Our yearly conference is life-affirming. It feeds the soul and lets us know that we do not do this work alone.
Can you describe your work to create a 70-plus-person comprehensive diversity strategic planning process with seven Strategic Planning Communities? What has been the outcome of that process, and what lessons learned would you share with fellow NADOHE Members?
When I assumed this role—and based on the size of the organization—I knew it would be important for us to have a blueprint that would guide our efforts institutionally. Emory’s ethos is grounded in justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Our educational mission is to “create, preserve, teach, and apply knowledge in the service of humanity.” You can’t get any more inspired than that. But what I was also hearing was that there is a disconnect between our educational mission and the ways we live out and honor those principles in our engagement with each other in our respective spaces. 2020 created a freedom for people to speak their truths in ways poignant and palpable. I could not do this work without hearing the tenor of those voices.
We began our strategic planning process in the middle of the pandemic and our racial re-reckoning with the underbelly of hatred. Our strategic planning process created space for us to consider our own self-work as an institution. Our service to humanity had to start at home first before we could amplify that work in the world. Thankfully, I had amazing support from the executive leadership at Emory. Many of my colleagues on leadership teams across the Emory enterprise and at every level of the organization have lent their time and voices to these efforts from the beginning.
So, we began that work in 2021. My thinking was to focus on people—their needs, their communities. If we could right-size conversations for specific communities, we could leverage our strategic goals in ways that built upon the wonderful work already being done here at Emory in JEDI before I assumed this role. These seven communities: undergraduate; graduate and professional students; post-doctoral scholars; faculty; staff; alumni; civic and community partners, led by two outstanding co-chairs for each community, went about the work of listening and assessing where we were as an institution. This process allowed space for these communities to have a voice in this work, for I am a firm believer that people will tell you what they need to succeed if you listen.
Our Institutional DEI Strategic Planning Community Report provides over 200 recommendations that will guide our diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts for the foreseeable future. We realize that we cannot do all 200 recommendations at one time; thus, goals have been situated into 3 buckets — short-term (0-2 years), mid-term( 2-4 years), and long-term (4+ years). We released phase one of these goals in June 2023 with action steps that will be monitored and reported to our Emory community.
These strategic goals have, likewise, been mapped onto our institutional framework, One Emory: Ambition and Heart. It was important to do that as our DEI efforts support Emory’s educational mission and are an important part of Emory’s educational ethos.
I have had the wonderful opportunity to be involved in two strategic planning processes for DEI at two different institutions. What I have learned is if you involve the entire community or communities in that process, they become ambassadors and advocates for that work. And when the people speak, you must listen.
What advice would you give to early-to-mid-career diversity, equity, and inclusion leaders in doing this work in the current climate?
Be innovative, courageous, and wise. And stay the course. There are students and scholars living and yet to be born who are counting on you—us—to stay the course. And above all else, to thy own self be true. This work is challenging and can be daunting—that is our reality now. But it is also life-affirming and rewarding if you surround yourself with those whose light feeds your soul.
There is a message on a community board that I pass each day going into work that I resonate with and hope it inspires others as well who are reading this post: “Believe there is good in the world.” I lean into that and wake up each day knowing that yesterday is not today and today is not tomorrow. I will be the change I want to see.