Three African American Men Who Are Stepping Down From Their University Posts

Willie Fleming, chief diversity officer at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, will retire on June 1. He joined the university in 2016 and has led the Office of Diversity and Inclusion since 2018. Previously, he was a professor of psychology at Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina.

Dr. Fleming holds a bachelor’s degree in art education and a master’s degree in student development from Appalachian State University. He holds a Ph.D. in counselor education from the University of South Carolina.

Cecil Hicks, Jr. is stepping down as the associate vice chancellor of diversity, equity, access, and inclusion at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. He will take a position as the chief talent officer for the Omaha Public Schools. Before taking his current position in 2020, Hicks was director of human resources at the university.

Hicks is a graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he majored in business management. He earned an MBA at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.

Edward J. Lewis III, vice chancellor for advancement at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, will leave his position, which he has held since 2015, to become president and chief executive officer of Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in northern Westchester County, New York. Earlier in his career, Lewis was senior director of development at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland, College Park.

An accomplished violist, Lewis holds a bachelor’s degree in music from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and a master’s degree in music from the University of Michigan.

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