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St. Olaf names new chief diversity officer

By Steve Blodgett
July 2, 2008

St. Olaf College President David R. Anderson '74 has announced the appointment of Bruce A. King as special assistant to the president for institutional diversity, beginning Aug. 1.

King Bruce
King
As a member of the president's cabinet, King will serve as chief diversity officer of the college and help coordinate campus initiatives to increase and maintain the diversity of its faculty, staff and students. In addition to developing strategies for promoting an inclusive workforce at St. Olaf, he will be responsible for overseeing St. Olaf's multicultural programming and outreach to diverse communities.

King brings more than 20 years of experience in education administration at both the university and K-12 levels. Most recently, he served as assistant vice president for academic affairs and chief diversity officer at the University of South Dakota. He is intimately familiar with Northfield and Minnesota, having served as adviser to the president on multicultural affairs at Carleton College from 1993 to 1997, system director for diversity and recruitment for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, and school administrator with the Bloomington Public Schools and Northwest Suburban Integration School District in Maple Grove, Minn.

"Bruce King's appointment reaffirms St. Olaf's commitment to strengthening and valuing diversity at the college," said Anderson. "Bruce brings a wealth of experience in multicultural education and developing effective strategies for recruiting and retaining underrepresented faculty, staff and student populations. He also has a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities for enhancing diversity at small liberal arts colleges." Over the course of his career, King has worked in multicultural and students affairs at Wesleyan University and Carleton, Hope, and Lake Forest colleges.

A graduate of Iowa State University, with a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Iowa, King has attended Harvard University's Graduate School of Education Management Development Program and served as a Public Policy Fellow with the University of Minnesota's Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. He has chaired the Associated Colleges of the Midwest's Committee on Minority Concerns and earned a national reputation as a founding member and second vice president of the National Association for Diversity Officers in Higher Education.

King's wife, Marcine, and their three children, Crosby, Jillian and Carver, will be joining him in Northfield.

Contact Steve Blodgett at 507-786-3316 or blodgett@stolaf.edu.