Quinnipiac University’s chief diversity officer will depart the university at the end of December, making him the fifth diversity and inclusion official to do so in the past 11 months.

Five months and two days after welcoming Wayne Gersie as the university’s newest vice president of equity and inclusion, President Judy Olian announced via email Thursday that Gersie will return to Michigan Technological University later this month “for personal reasons.”

“My thanks to Wayne for the contributions he has made in advancing recruitment, programming and reporting around our important equity and inclusion goals,” Olian wrote in the Dec. 7 email.

University officials hired David Fryson — a veteran college administrator who has served as the chief diversity officer at both Brandeis University and West Virginia University — to take over as Quinnipiac’s interim vice president for equity and inclusion at the beginning of 2024.

Four other diversity and inclusion administrators have resigned in the past year.

Dennis Kwarteng, Quinnipiac’s former Title IX coordinator, left Quinnipiac in January. Gersie’s predecessor, Don Sawyer, departed Quinnipiac in June. Daymyen Layne, the former director of multicultural education and training, departed in June as well. And Veronica Jacobs, the current associate director of multicultural education and training, announced her resignation on Dec. 1.

Amid Gersie’s departure, Olian announced several structural changes to Quinnipiac’s Department of Global and Cultural and Engagement designed to “enable singular focus on equity and inclusion on the one hand, and on international students and global education on the other.”

“While there may appear to be several shifts in reporting roles, nothing has changed about our unwavering commitment to achieving the goals of advancing inclusive excellence, and expanding the programming available to support students, faculty and staff of color,” Olian wrote.

Namely, university officials recategorized study abroad and academic programming under the Office of the Provost and international student services under the Office of Student Affairs. Olian also announced the creation of two new positions: a director of spiritual well-being and a position striving to “increase retention of first-generation and diverse students.”

“The restructuring of the Office of Inclusive Excellence will enable our singular focus on execution of the university priorities around inclusive excellence — our 10-point plan for social justice, the goals of our LGBTQ+ plan, and the action plans derived from our climate for diversity survey — while also connecting global students and programs to the relevant functions at the university,” she wrote.

Gersie is also the fourth vice president to depart Quinnipiac in the past 14 months.

Daryl Richard, Quinnipiac’s former vice president for marketing and communications, left in October 2022. Todd Sloan, the former vice president for development and alumni affairs, left in September 2023.

Sawyer, Richard and Sloan all departed after accepting near-identical roles at other universities.