MarTeze Hammonds selected as Purdue Fort Wayne's first chief diversity officer

FORT WAYNE, Ind.—Purdue University Fort Wayne announced Thursday that MarTeze Hammonds, Ed.D., has been chosen to become its first chief diversity officer. Hammonds is the owner and principal consultant of MDH Consulting Group in Dallas and a senior consultant for diversity and inclusion for the global headquarters of the American Cancer Society in Atlanta. His official start date as CDO at Purdue Fort Wayne is Dec. 18.

Hammonds has more than a decade of professional work experience in higher education, including serving as associate dean for diversity and inclusion at Arkansas Tech University and assistant dean of students for retention and academic engagement at the College of Wooster.

Initiation of the national search to hire Purdue Fort Wayne’s first CDO began in earnest in late May with the creation of an 11-member search committee led by Jerry Lewis, vice chancellor for communications and marketing. The committee’s work involved a thorough assessment of a deep and talented applicant pool of more than 100 candidates that was narrowed down to three finalists in November.

The CDO is a new, cabinet-level position at Purdue Fort Wayne that will report directly to Chancellor Ronald L. Elsenbaumer.

“A strong focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion emerged as one of the top three priorities for immediate action during the process to build our five-year strategic plan that was finalized this year,” Elsenbaumer said. “MarTeze Hammonds possesses the experience, creativity, professionalism, and leadership skills to help Purdue Fort Wayne turn a vision on paper into a tangible part of our culture and future.”

As CDO, Hammonds will serve as a leader in advancing a campus environment that inclusively exemplifies the unique, welcoming, and diverse synergies of Purdue Fort Wayne’s students, faculty, and staff. As part of his numerous responsibilities, he will consult on the development of unit-level diversity plans with senior administrators and campus leaders; facilitate best practices in fostering an affirming and inclusive campus culture; and advance institutional shared responsibility for achieving the university’s strategic goals related to diversity, advocacy for affinity groups, equity, belonging, and inclusion.

“I'm honored and excited for the opportunity to lead diversity, equity, and inclusion at Purdue Fort Wayne,” said Hammonds. “The time is now for all of us to do our part in moving diversity, equity, and inclusion forward.”

Hammonds’ work as a consultant also involved a two-and-a-half-year affiliation with InterContinental Hotels Group, a British multinational hospitality company headquartered in Denham, Buckinghamshire, England, where he developed, designed, and delivered leadership training workshops to hotel leaders and corporate employees in a nine-state swath of IHG’s Americas region.

As an educator, Hammonds served as an adjunct professor at Arkansas Tech, one of a few professors there that taught at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels. He also served as an adjunct communication professor at both Wayne College in Orrville, Ohio—the University of Akron’s only regional branch campus—and at North Central State College in Mansfield, Ohio.

No stranger to Indiana, Hammonds spent a year as the assistant director of Ball State’s Multicultural Center from 2009 to 2010.

Hammonds attended Murray State University, in his hometown of Murray, Kentucky, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in theatre and dance in 2005, a master’s in organizational communication in 2006, and a second master’s in human development and leadership with an emphasis in college student personnel in 2008. In 2012, Hammonds completed his doctoral degree in higher education administration in less than two years from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

Hammonds has received numerous professional awards and honors, including having May 25 proclaimed and observed annually as Dr. MarTeze D. Hammonds Day in Murray.

Learn more about Purdue University Fort Wayne’s strategic plan at pfw.edu/strategic-plan.

For additional information, contact Geoff Thomas, [email protected] or 260-437-7657 (mobile).

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