By Naniyah McClain
Staff Writer
Dr. Dale Caldwell will head the new Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council.
“Our nation continues to be plagued by racial violence and injustice, and I join with all of you who are angry, upset, and impatient for change and social injustice,” President Christopher Capuano said in his announcement, Friday, Sept. 25.
The full council — composed of faculty, staff, students and alumni — has not been announced, nor is a timeframe set for its initial recommendations. The council will meet with students and faculty members to evaluate whether aspects of the university, from the curriculum to student life, are diverse and inclusive, the email said.
“My first task will be to gather as much information as possible and work with the larger FDU community to identify people who are willing to serve on this Advisory Council,” Caldwell said via an email to The Equinox.
Caldwell holds an Ed.D. in educational administration from Seton Hall, an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania University and a B.A. in economics and a minor in Afro-American studies from Princeton.
An adjunct professor at Silberman College of Business and Executive, he is director of the Rothman Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and has 10 years of experience as a senior executive in the public, private and nonprofit sectors.
Caldwell’s roles and responsibilities are still being determined, the email said.
The Next Step: Remembering the Past to Better the Present
The first Black senior manager in the New York and New Jersey practices of Deloitte Consulting, Caldwell has focused on improving diversity and inclusion in the workplace.
He started Deloitte’s first employee diversity group, the Association of Black and Latino Employees (ABLE), he said.
“I’d also like to mention that my dad, who just passed away a few weeks ago, knew and marched with Dr. King and inspired me to develop a passion for diversity and inclusion,” Caldwell said.
His father, Reverend Gilbert F. Caldwell, was a civil rights activist for both racial and LGBT equality throughout his ministry career of over 60 years. Along with marching with MLK, he contributed to several landmark civil rights movement events. Gilbert Caldwell died of cancer Sept. 4 at 86.
Now his son will help lead Fairleigh Dickinson University’s diversity efforts.
Reverend Gilbert H. Caldwell (left) with Martin Luther King Jr. at a civil rally in Boston, March 1965. Photo Courtesy of Dr. Dale Caldwell.
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