Response to Letter to the Editor from AFAM 399: Public Scholarship in The Trail:
To the Editor-in-Chief, Staff, and Readers of The Trail:
Thank you for the opportunity to share information in response to the letter to the Editor by the Spring 2026 AFAM 399: Public Scholarship class, which expresses concerns about the process to appoint our incoming interim vice president for institutional equity and diversity. As I shared in my campus message on January 27, 2026, I made the decision to suspend the search for our next vice president for institutional equity and diversity and instead make an interim appointment for this role to both: (1) allow Puget Sound’s next president the opportunity to decide how to move forward with this critical search and, (2) to continue to advance the important work of the Office of Institutional Equity and Diversity during the presidential transition that will occur following my retirement on July 1, 2027.
I have endeavored to keep the campus community engaged in this process as it moved forward, through campus messages sent on December 10, January 27, March 2, March 9, March 11 and April 23, and in reports to our faculty submitted on March 25 and April 8, which were also shared with the Staff Senate Chair and the ASUPS President. To the extent it is helpful in responding to the concerns expressed by this class, I have included an excerpt from my April 23 message to campus that speaks to our process:
When I wrote to you in January to provide an update on this process and my decision to appoint an interim vice president for institutional equity and diversity in light of my upcoming retirement on July 1, 2027, I anticipated we would be able to bring multiple candidates to campus for formal interviews this spring. Over the course of the past few months, I have discussed the opportunity to serve in this role with a number of possible candidates, including several sitting vice presidents and former vice presidents from across the country. These conversations were productive and enlightening, and ultimately led to us welcoming our first candidate for this position to campus in early March. However, as we moved forward, we encountered unanticipated professional and logistical constraints that hindered our ability to bring subsequent candidates forward to participate in on-campus interviews in the way we had envisioned at the onset of this process. In addition, given the essential nature of this position, it was critically important that we only bring candidates to campus who would excel in this role and bring the level of expertise, experience, full-time capacity, proven collaboration, and dedication our campus deserves.
I believe we have found these qualities in John Johnson, Ph.D. He was the first candidate I interviewed, and the feedback from our community regarding his visit last month was overwhelmingly positive. I am delighted that the process yielded such an exceptional leader, and, following consultation with Board of Trustees Chair Beth Picardo, I am pleased to officially announce his appointment as our interim vice president for institutional equity and diversity. Dr. Johnson will join the Puget Sound community on July 6, 2026.
I continue to be excited about Dr. Johnson’s interim appointment and believe he is the right person to step into this role and continue the vital work of the Office for Institutional Equity and Diversity following the retirement of our inaugural vice president for institutional equity and diversity, Lorna Hernandez Jarvis, on June 30, 2026. I am grateful for the engagement our campus community brings to these critical issues and all you do to make our campus a place where everyone feels they belong.
Sincerely,
Isiaah Crawford, Ph.D.
President