Molloy College, a private Catholic university in Rockville Centre, New York, has appointed its first vice president for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI).
Dr. Donald “DJ” Mitchell, Jr.Dr. Donald “DJ” Mitchell, Jr., currently chief DEI officer at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Kentucky, will assume the role on Feb. 1, becoming the key adviser to the university’s president on matters related to DEI.
He has been serving as the inaugural chief DEI officer at Bellarmine, also a private Catholic university, since June 2020. Prior to then, he had been serving as a full professor of education since August 2017 and as chair for the M.Ed. in Higher Education Leadership and Social Justice Program since June 2018.
Mitchell holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Shaw University, a master’s degree in educational leadership from Minnesota State University, Mankato, and a Ph.D. in educational policy and administration with a concentration in higher education from the University of Minnesota—Twin Cities.
Having published more than 50 scholarly works, Mitchell has become nationally recognized for his work exploring the role of race, gender and identity in higher education contexts. In 2020, he was named an Emerging Scholar by Diverse.