Dr. Nkenge Friday is a national diversity and inclusion leader and a higher education educator with a background supporting and leading university-wide diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and operations.

Focusing efforts on equity, inclusion, and diversity as an organizational wide strategy, she has worked throughout her career with leaders and constituents to develop strategic aims, goals, and initiatives that align with collaborative based frameworks, aligning organizational needs with national and global trends and the most current research practices.

In her most recent role as the inaugural Senior Assistant Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Dr. Friday served as a senior leader in the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, developing and implementing more than 20 inclusive excellence strategic plans and initiatives across the university’s colleges and administrative units. She inaugurated Nebraska’s annual diversity report; partnered with human resources to include inclusive excellence as an employee evaluation measure; instituted the first university-wide diversity, equity, and inclusion awards; and expanded bias and climate-related reporting resources and infrastructure, leading to the creation of the Inclusive Campus Support Network.

In her role as an Associate Dean and Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Marietta College, she directed a cultural climate assessment that led to the creation of the inclusive excellence initiative, One Marietta, leading to the college’s first multicultural student center and themed housing community, along with the establishment of five-full tuition scholarships for historically underserved students engaged in social justice.

In adjunct faculty roles, she has taught courses that include global leadership, history of equity and inclusion in higher education, higher education in America, and literature literacy.

She has worked extensively in education at various universities and colleges in roles that range in teaching and administration, and traveled globally, developing, and delivering diversity research, education, and training to international communities. Her most recent research includes the impact of global nationalism on institutions of higher learning and leveraging diversity and inclusion for leadership and learning for both internal and external advancement.

Dr. Friday, a certified qualified administrator for the Intercultural Development Inventory, serves as a leader and board member within several professional associations and nonprofits, and is a 2023 HERS Leadership Institute alum.

Degrees:

• EdD, Higher Education Leadership, Nova Southeastern University
• MEd, Diversity and Equity in Education, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• MA, International Relations, University of Oklahoma
• BA, English, Tougaloo College