CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Sean C. Garrick, currently the associate vice provost in the Office for Equity and Diversity at the University of Minnesota, will become the vice chancellor for diversity, equity and inclusion at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign effective Aug. 1, pending approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. Garrick will be the first person to hold this new senior-level position at Illinois.
During a national recruitment process, Garrick showed potential to identify and pursue opportunities for education, reconciliation, restoration and cultural transformation at Illinois. In addition to leading the newly established Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Garrick also will serve on the chancellor’s leadership team, providing vision and advice on diversity and social justice issues.
“When I began as chancellor at Illinois, I said that I believed hiring a vice chancellor for diversity, equity and inclusion was critical to our success,” Chancellor Robert J. Jones said. “Dr. Garrick has the passion, experience and leadership necessary to integrate our robust and numerous diversity and inclusion efforts into innovative strategies and practices that enhance these efforts and embed them into every aspect of our missions.”
At Minnesota, Garrick leads initiatives designed to recruit, retain and sustain a diverse community of scholars. In addition to serving as associate vice provost, he is the director of the University of Minnesota Institute for Diversity, Equity and Advocacy, where he leads efforts to engage faculty whose scholarship focuses on diverse, underrepresented or marginalized populations. He is also an accomplished scholar and a professor of mechanical engineering with a research focus on chemically reacting flows, particle formation and growth, and turbulent multiphase flows.