Cornell University President Hunter Rawlings today (Feb. 16) announced two appointments that, he said, "will greatly strengthen the university."

Robert Harris Jr., associate professor of Africana studies and a special assistant to the provost, has been named vice provost for diversity and faculty development. Francille Firebaugh, dean emerita of the College of Human Ecology, has been named director of special projects, Office of the President and the Provost. Harris' appointment was effective Feb. 1 and Firebaugh's Jan. 1.

"We are very pleased to be able to announce these two important appointments," Rawlings said. "Both positions are key to the university's plans for the future, both in terms of the campus community and of the world beyond."

Harris will lead efforts to increase the diversity of the university faculty and to ensure that all of the faculty members recruited to Cornell are supported in ways that will enable them to become successful members of the university community, said Provost Don Randel. Harris succeeds former Associate Provost Winnie Taylor, who returned to the faculty of the Law School at the end of the last academic year.

"Bob's contributions to the life of the university and to the climate for diversity at the university have been widely recognized and appreciated," Rawlings said. "We look forward, therefore, to working with him as a close colleague in pursuit of these objectives."

Harris said he is looking forward to working with members of the campus community to enhance the diversity of the university environment. "I am most pleased to be in a position to focus on recruitment and retention of a more diverse faculty at Cornell. And I welcome the opportunity to cooperate with deans, faculty, staff and students to accomplish that goal," he said.

Firebaugh will lead several specific efforts, including a renewed series of undertakings in relation to the community in which we live, Randel said.

"The university already participates in many productive relationships with the surrounding community. But there is much more that we could contribute and learn," Randel said. "Similarly, we have undertaken a variety of efforts to support members of the faculty who become

department chairs. But there is much that we could do across the university as a whole to prepare those about to assume this role and to support them while in it."

Firebaugh will coordinate existing efforts and develop a universitywide program to prepare and support department chairs.

"We are very fortunate to have the benefit of Francille's considerable skills and experience," Rawlings said. "Those skills will be even more essential to us as we move forward to meet the challenges of the coming years."

Firebaugh is looking forward to those challenges. "The vitality of Cornell is distinctive and exciting," she said. "I am delighted to return to work on projects that are important to the institution and to which I am deeply committed."

Harris has served as special assistant to the provost since 1994. That position is now eliminated. He joined Cornell in 1975 as assistant professor of African-American history in the Africana Studies and Research Center. In 1982 he became associate professor, and from 1986 to 1991 he served as director of the Africana Studies and Research Center. Before coming to Cornell, he was assistant professor of American history at the University of Illinois, Urbana.

Harris received his bachelor's degree from Roosevelt University in 1966, his master's, with honors, from Roosevelt in 1968 and his Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 1974.

Firebaugh joined Cornell as dean of the College of Human Ecology in 1988 and served as dean through June 1999. Before coming to Cornell, she was vice provost for international affairs in the Office of Academic Affairs at Ohio State University, and she served as acting vice president for academic affairs there in 1985-86. She is a member of the board of trustees of Kendal at Ithaca and of the board of directors of the Cayuga Medical Center.

She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Arkansas in 1955, her master's degree from the University of Tennessee in 1956 and her Ph.D. from the College of Human Ecology at Cornell in 1962.