Jerry Kang announces plans to step down as EDI vice chancellor in June 2020
Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Jerry Kang plans to step down from his role on June 30, 2020. (Daily Bruin file photo)
By Sameera Pant
Sept. 15, 2019 11:21 p.m.
UCLA intends to launch a nationwide search for a new vice chancellor for equity, diversity and inclusion.
Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Jerry Kang plans to step down from his role on June 30, 2020 at the end of his five-year term, according to a message sent Sept. 5 from Chancellor Gene Block. Kang will return to his previous role as a professor of law and Asian American studies, Block said.
The Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion was created in 2014. Kang assumed the inaugural role of vice chancellor a year later.
As vice chancellor, he oversaw the Discrimination Prevention Office and the Title IX Office and employed his experience in law and race studies to establish campuswide initiatives and policies regarding controversial speech and protest, immigration and Native American/indigenous affairs.
Additionally, Kang established BruinX, a campus think tank that works toward ensuring there is greater diversity in UCLA’s hiring of faculty. Through BruinX, which serves as the research and development branch of EDI, Kang trained search committees that were hiring faculty for senior positions across the UC system.
Block, along with Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Emily Carter, plan to announce the search advisory committee, which will find Kang’s successor.