The third candidate for the vice chancellor for diversity and community engagement discussed his vision at the open forum on Thursday.
Stacey Close, a native of Southwest Georgia, said he wants to help Ole Miss tackle the past on campus and move forward in unity.
Close studied undergrad at Albany State College before he earned his master’s degree and doctorate of philosophy in history at Ohio State University.
“I found a place and home that I liked and I got a chance to grow,” Close said.
Close later worked at Eastern Connecticut State University where he began teaching courses on African-Americans, African history and Southern history. Close also has presented at the Southern Conference on African American Studies, Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History and the Professional and Organizational Development Network.
Close said he was drawn to work at Ole Miss because of the university’s reputation and straightforward diversity mission.
“I became interested in this position after reading the university’s diversity plan. It is your diversity plan that does what other diversity plans don’t do. You openly talk about the past,” Close said.
Close said that there are more opportunities that can be done on campus and expand within the state.
“Very few schools are doing what the University of Mississippi is doing in terms of trying to work at their issues of diversity and in terms of where the University of Mississippi is you can find it around the world,” Close said.
He said the Ole Miss’s presence and footprint can be found in Ethiopia and destinations in South America, which have given the school an opportunity to grow.
Close said his passion for diversity started on the academic side after he arrived at Eastern Connecticut State University where he saw a lack of African-American professors. Close said he decided to be a figure who would make a better change in the university.
Close has previously served as a chief diversity officer, a state ethics liaison and has investigated race discrimination.
Close said he believes Ole Miss is the perfect school for him to lead in terms of diversity and an opportunity to set examples to the rest of higher education.
