This volume addresses the role of chief diversity officers as coordinating and integrating diversity leaders in higher education and other sectors.

This book begins by delineating the evolution of the chief diversity officer role in the academy. Drawing on extensive qualitative and quantitative research on CDOs conducted for the purposes of this volume, it describes how the scope and responsibilities are variously defined at the organizations where the position has been created, and offers insights into the complexities and challenges of the role.

On the basis of this data and the literature on organizational design and change management, the authors define the requisite skills, knowledge and background to be effective, review the alternative organizational and governance structures under which CDOs operate, and in so doing present the Chief Diversity Officer Development Framework as a basis for recruiting candidates, for structuring the position to succeed, and for providing prospective and incumbent CDOs with a realistic sense of the scope of the role.

Rather than prescribing a specific model for designing the CDO role, this book provides the reader with the key dimensions that she or he must consider in developing, supporting, or undertaking this strategic diversity leadership role.