Director position at Loyola’s Karson Institute elevated and redefined

Dear Faculty, Staff, and Administrators,

I write today to let you know that Loyola University Maryland is strengthening and elevating the position of the Karson Institute for Race, Peace & Social Justice within the University and elevating the role of the founding executive director, Karsonya “Kaye” Whitehead, Ph.D.

As director, Dr. Whitehead now reports directly to Rodney Parker, Ph.D., Loyola’s acting chief equity and inclusion officer. By positioning this role in the University in this way, we hope to make it possible for Dr. Whitehead to broaden the impact of the Karson Institute’s work throughout the University.

The Karson Institute provides a scholarly space for professors, students, social justice workers, and activists to come together to research, discuss, debate, and explore answers to America’s most urgent questions on inequality, injustice, and racial inequity.

Since its founding less than a year ago in October 2020, the Karson Institute has opened all three of its Centers—the Center for Public Engagement, the Center for Teaching and Learning, and the Center for Research and Culture—and they are all fully functioning.

The Karson Institute continues to challenge and inspire our community and help us focus on the important work we are undertaking related to equity and inclusion. It’s phenomenal to think of the impact that the Karson Institute has been able to have already—and the impact it can have moving forward.

You can learn more about the Karson Institute and how you might participate in its offerings on the Karson Institute website. Please join me in congratulating Dr. Whitehead and celebrating all the ways the Karson Institute is leading important work here at Loyola and throughout the community.

Sincerely,

Amanda M. Thomas, Ph.D.
Interim President