Whitman has appointed Kazi Joshua to the newly created position of associate dean for intercultural affairs and chief diversity officer. Joshua’s position will greatly expand upon the existing position of Director of the Intercultural Center when he enters it in January. The position was created in late 2013 as Whitman looked for someone who could work with students, faculty and the administration when it came to engaging in discussions and solutions to the problems of diversity, while simultaneously overseeing the Intercultural Center.

The current first-year class has the largest number of first-generation students that Whitman has ever seen, a trend accompanied by increasing administrative involvement in promoting conversations about socioeconomic diversity.