4:23 p.m., March 30, 2009----Wunyabari Maloba has resigned from his position as assistant vice president for Affirmative Action and Multicultural Programs effective June 30 in order to return to full time faculty. He also will step down as chairperson of the President's Commission to Promote Racial and Cultural Diversity.

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Maloba, who has taught a seminar class each semester while serving in the administration, will return to the faculty and resume his teaching and research as professor of history with a secondary appointment in the Black American Studies Program.

“I am very excited to be going back to the classroom and to my research. I have many projects to undertake,” said Maloba, who will be on a previously postponed sabbatical leave next year and then resume his responsibilities and duties as full time faculty on Sept. 1, 2010.

"President Harker and I greatly appreciate Dr. Maloba's dedicated service and many contributions as assistant vice president and as chairperson of the President's Commission to Promote Racial and Cultural Diversity,” Provost Dan Rich said. “His efforts have been instrumental in raising awareness of the University's diversity goals and in mobilizing initiatives to address diversity issues.”

Rich said Maloba has played an important role in achieving more diversity at UD and in establishing a strong foundation for the continued pursuit of the University's diversity goals.

Maloba has served in his current position since Jan. 1, 2007. He has been responsible for the affirmative action and equal employment program at the University, through which he has sought to ensure that the University's hiring practices followed federal guidelines, and that the University continued to make serious efforts to diversify its workforce.

Maloba also is responsible for overseeing the work of the Commission on the Status of Women, the President's Commission to Promote Racial and Cultural Diversity, the processing of applications for U.S. permanent residence by non-citizen employees of the University, investigating complaints of discrimination by employees, and serving on the Athletics Commitment to Equity Committee. The Office of Women's Affairs also reports to him.

Maloba said he is very proud of the work accomplished by the President's Commission to Promote Racial and Cultural Diversity, to which he was appointed as chairperson in August, 2000.

“I am very proud of what the commission has been able to accomplish in raising campus awareness to this important objective of diversifying UD in all aspects -- racial, cultural, employment, curriculum, student enrollment, and also on acknowledging that a 'climate' that promotes tolerance is and remains crucial to the attainment of real diversity,” Maloba said.

Under Maloba's leadership, the commission focused on exploring ways of promoting equity for people of different backgrounds, developing organizational practices that include participation and perspectives of diverse groups, investigating current conditions at the University, researching efforts being undertaken to address issues of equity and diversity at other institutions, and providing annual recommendations to the president on plans for action that can create an environment that supports diversity.

Maloba is the founding director of the African Studies Program at UD. He is the author of Mau Mau and Kenya: An Analysis of a Peasant Revolt (published by Indiana University Press in 1993 and reprinted in 1998), African Women in Revolution (published by Africa World Press), as well as several articles on nationalism and decolonization. He holds appointments at UD as professor of history, Black American Studies and Women's Studies.

Article by Martin A Mbugua