Loyola appointed a new equity and inclusion vice president months after Sybol Anderson left the position, according to an email sent out to students.

Kedrick Perry, who is expected to start at Loyola Sept. 15, comes from the University of California Berkeley where he served as Chief Diversity Officer at the Energy Efficient Electronics Science.

Tetlow said Perry has experience as a diversity officer and cited that past co-workers said that he “makes a difference wherever he goes.”

“With innovation and serious grant writing skills, he has built transformative programs and programming,” Tetlow said.

Tetlow said that while a summer without an equity and inclusion officer has been challenging, it has forced the university to grapple with related issues.

“I spent time this summer listening to expressions of pain from students, faculty and staff, going over bias incident reports, and getting a humbling reminder of all of the ways we sometimes fail to live up to our own values,” Tetlow said.

Complaints of racism and exclusivity that were reported during the summer have prompted the university to improve its bias complaint systems and motivate faculty to enroll in a month-long course on diversity in education, according to Tetlow.

Tetlow said she is confident that Perry will continue the work of Anderson while also helping the university keep their “timetable of commitments in the Strategic Plan for Inclusive Excellence.”

“He is thrilled to be part of such a diverse and inclusive student community, and to help us better reflect that diversity in our faculty and staff,” Tetlow said.