On March 4, 2024, Andrews University President John Wesley Taylor V announced via email that the selection process for the administration’s newly created Assistant to the President for Mission and Culture position had been completed. President Taylor and a search committee composed of faculty, staff, and students have selected Dr. Willie E. Hucks II to carry out the new role after a three-month-long deliberation process. Out of several selected candidates, Dr. Hucks was one of three finalists whom the search committee interviewed. The email from the Office of the President stated that Dr. Hucks “will also carry forward the role of diversity officer for the University.”
Dr. Hucks currently serves as the Chair of the Department of Practical and Applied Theology (PATH) and as an Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology and Homiletics in the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary. Before becoming a member of the Andrews community in 2016, Dr. Hucks had a diverse work history and a resume that included specialties in administrative work, teaching, pastoral ministry, and writing. He was an associate editor at Ministry Magazine, an associate ministerial secretary of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, a Southwestern Adventist University faculty member, and a Southwest Region Conference pastor.
Taylor, in his email, credits Dr. Hucks as a “team builder, [who] emphasizes spirituality and cooperation,” as well as his experience as the chair for the Seminary Ethnicity, Race, and Social Justice Committee for eight years, as the experience that has him ready to serve in this capacity. Taylor also hopes that the Andrews community will keep Dr. Hucks, himself, and the rest of the administration in prayer as they move forward with the assimilation of this position into the Andrews administration. Provost Christon Arthur shared that he believes “Dr. Hucks will bring a lot of credibility, a range of experience, and expertise to this role. I am looking forward to working with him. Since he’s been here, we’ve had a wonderful working relationship with each other. We both want to see a place where students feel valued, appreciated, and welcomed.”
Dr. Hucks shared in an earlier interview with The Student Movement that he believes that his assuming of the diversity officer role is “a natural outgrowth of [his] AU journey.” In a second interview, he admitted that although he was never interested in this role until in December of 2023 when several faculty members and others expressed that they thought he would be a good fit for the position, he “through prayer and conversations with trusted advisers, decided to explore the possibilities.” Hucks’s tenure as the Assistant to the President for Mission and Culture will begin June 1, 2024.
One appealing aspect of the position to Hucks was the idea of getting into administrative work and “having a bigger seat at the university table.” As the Assistant to the President for Mission and Culture, Dr. Hucks said that he will be teaching one class a semester in the Seminary and stepping down as the chair of PATH. Hucks also shared that part of his expertise for the position is his “theological and academic frameworks for promoting diversity and inclusion.” He, however, was humble enough to admit that he does not have a full understanding of university-wide issues yet and plans for his first order of business to be hearing from the Andrews’ Spiritual Life team, student groups such as the senate officers of the Andrews University Student Association (AUSA), faculty, and others.
Before Dr. Hucks was offered the role of Assistant to the President for Mission and Culture, the decision by President Taylor’s administration to remove the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) office and vice president position in favor of the new role had been a controversial one in Andrews and Adventist social circles. Taylor expressed that there were two reasons why this decision was made. “A vice president is a ‘line position,’ or a supervisory position. It oversees a particular sector of the organization. An assistant to the president is a ‘staff position’ that is not a supervisory position…but it tends to be a university-wide position. There was an update to the nomenclature of the position to reflect more accurately its role.” Taylor added that out of the fourteen specific responsibilities of the Assistant to the President for Mission and Culture, ten of them deal directly with matters of diversity.
When asked about his thoughts about the nature of his new position, Dr. Hucks admitted that he was “initially opposed to the change in language” of the position from a “vice president” to “assistant to the president” since it signified to him, and others, that it did “imply a demotion.” However, upon learning more about what the assistant to the president role entailed, Dr. Hucks realized that the role still has “possibilities for impactful engagement if that person is given the tools and space that he or she needs to make it work.”
Another controversial aspect of the exchange of diversity officer positions was the reported ill-treatment that the previous diversity officer, Dr. Danielle Pilgrim, experienced. At an AUSA-sponsored town hall meeting in the 2023 Fall Semester, Taylor had avoided directly responding to the statements Dr. Pilgrim had shared publicly and still did not comment further on what exactly had happened with Dr. Pilgrim beyond respecting her wishes and statements when he was personally interviewed. When asked what he and his administration would do to avoid similar situations where an employee feels disrespected, Taylor stated, “We want to do all that we can to create an environment that is a positive work environment, and we’re proactive to do that. We’re certainly committed to that.”
Dr. Hucks also did not offer any comment on Dr. Pilgrim’s experiences but did state that he hopes to deal with any controversy or disrespect, should it arise, in a direct and appropriate manner. Describing himself as a very “opinionated” person, Dr. Hucks does not plan to change anything about himself to garner respect from colleagues. “Communication is always going to be the key for me,” said Dr. Hucks, who hopes to deal with any interpersonal conflict head-on and respectfully.
Dr. Hucks hopes to deal with both diversity issues and issues of mission and culture in an adequate way and hopes to strike a balance between the facets of diversity officer and Assistant to the President for Mission and Culture. What may help with striking that balance is that Dr. Hucks’ new office will be in the Campus Center where former Vice President for University Culture and Inclusion, Michael Nixon, Esq., had his office space. When offered the choice between an office in the Administration Building or the Campus Center, where students, faculty, and staff frequent much more often, Dr. Hucks said it was “an easy answer” for him. “It would give me greater contact with more people, and I can still get everything I need to get done.”
On a personal note, Dr. Hucks shared proudly that he and his wife have recently become grandparents for the first time, and they both look forward to spending as much time as possible with their grandson in Maryland. He ultimately plans to use his previous pastoral and administrative experience to foster “an environment that resembles a family, and not just a workplace,” with his new position amongst all the members of the Andrews University community.
The Student Movement is the official student newspaper of Andrews University. Opinions expressed in the Student Movement are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, Andrews University or the Seventh-day Adventist church.