Becoming a Force for Diversity and Inclusion: Rosemary E. Kilkenny made her foray into the diversity arena more than three decades ago.Troubled at the time by the dearth of Black graduate students in her class at Kent State University, Kilkenny complained to the dean of graduate studies about the lack of diversity but was later challenged to develop a program of her own aimed at increasing Black enrollment.
She accepted the challenge, and her strategy for increasing minority enrollment by ensuring Black students had the financial and mentoring support they needed was immediately hailed as a success and Kilkenny was later appointed assistant dean for graduate recruitment. She went on to serve in various positions at Kent State University and the State University of New York at Albany before arriving in 1980 at the nation’s oldest Jesuit university, where she assumed the role of special assistant for affirmative action programs.
