Women’s Center director Sekile M. Nzinga-Johnson was appointed Northwestern’s interim chief diversity officer and associate provost for diversity and inclusion on Tuesday.

Jabbar Bennett, the inaugural and current chief diversity officer and associate provost for diversity and inclusion, will step down on Feb. 14 with Nzinga assuming the role on Feb. 15.

Nzinga-Johnson will continue her positions as a lecturer in gender and sexuality studies and as director of the Women’s Center.

Her past work at NU includes serving as the co-chair of the University’s Gender Queer, Non-Binary and Transgender Task Force and helping develop and co-author the upcoming task force report.

Nzinga-Johnson is currently a member-at-large for the National Women’s Association’s governing council and was awarded the Evanston-Northshore YWCA’s Women in Leadership Award. She was also the founding director of Nazareth College’s women and gender studies B.A. program. [cq]

In an email to the Daily, Northwestern spokesman Bob Rowley said Bennett’s departure came after “accomplishing a great deal” as the inaugural Chief Diversity Officer of the University.

“The search for Jabbar Bennett’s permanent successor will begin shortly, and details of the search process are being finalized, with a goal of filling this position as soon as possible,” Rowley said in an email to the Daily.

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– Chief Diversity Officer Jabbar Bennett to step down mid-February