Robert L. Harris Jr., vice provost for diversity and faculty development, is stepping down after serving for eight years in his current position, effective July 2008. Harris will return to his faculty position at the Africana Studies and Research Center.

Following his departure, the vice provost position will be renamed chief diversity officer, to reflect the university's growing emphasis on the promotion of diversity. A search is now under way to fill the new position.

"The new position will seek to coordinate work related to diversity not just for faculty," Harris said, "but also for staff and students in conjunction with the University Diversity Council."

Under Harris' watch as vice provost, numerous key accomplishments were realized. They include: The Provost's Academic Diversity Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, which resulted in the hiring of two minority scholars as tenure-track faculty with several others in the pipeline; the establishment of an annual list of open faculty searches to assist with greater collaboration across disciplines and with dual career placement; and working alongside Betsy Hillman, the dual career consultant in human resources, the establishment of the Upstate New York Higher Education Recruitment Consortium, which assists in recruiting faculty who have spouses or partners also seeking employment.

Harris also mentioned his pleasure in collaborating with Shelley Correll, Sheila Hemami, Biddy Martin and Marjolein van der Meulen to establish the NSF Advance Center office, with Tine Reimers as executive director. And finally, collaborating with Lynette Chappell-Williams, director of the Office of Workforce Diversity, Equity and Life Quality, to craft and to promote Cornell's Statement on Diversity and Inclusiveness, "Open Doors, Open Hearts and Open Minds."

Harris, a professor of African-American history, is the author of more than 50 articles and chapters in academic journals and books. In 2006 his book with Rosalyn Terborg-Penn, "The Columbia Guide to African American History Since 1939," was published by Columbia University Press. He is past president of the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History. His research has been supported by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Ford Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation.

About returning to his academic work, Harris said: "With its newly renovated and expanded facility and the recruitment of several prominent faculty, this is an exciting time to return full time to the Africana Center as the department prepares to observe its 40th anniversary in 2009."

As national historian for Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, founded at Cornell on Dec. 4, 1906, Harris is revising and expanding its official history book. He also is working on a biography of Jerome Heartwell "Brud" Holland '39, '41, an educator, diplomat and administrator who was an All-American football star at Cornell in 1938 and 1939. Holland later served as president of Delaware State College and Hampton University, U.S. Ambassador to Sweden, member of the New York Stock Exchange board of directors and Cornell board of trustees and chairman of the board of the American Red Cross.