The term “March Madness” typically refers to the culmination of the Division I collegiate basketball season, but Quinnipiac University applied it to something else this month: administrative hires. 

Quinnipiac officials kicked off spring break this March with three high-level hiring moves and a new Title IX coordinator, turning what is typically one of the quietest weeks of the school year into one of the busiest.

Between March 8 and March 11, the university named permanent appointees to two newly established directorial roles and a vice presidential position.

These hires alone tell only part of the story, though — put into the context of the university’s 18-month-long saga of administrative turnover, they are indicative of a potential upswing in the trend. Quinnipiac’s diversity offices have been the hardest hit by the university’s revolving door, suffering six key departures since January 2023. 

In December, at the height of the turnover among diversity officers, Quinnipiac dismantled its former Department of Global and Cultural Engagement.

It is the transition to the newly refocused equity office — the Office of Inclusive Excellence — that David Fryson, interim vice president for inclusive excellence, was hired to lead. 

Fryson announced in a March 11 email to the Bobcat community that Claude Mayo, Quinnipiac’s director of academic integrity, would serve as the university’s inaugural director of inclusive excellence, effective immediately. 

The newly established title — like the office that houses it — is a product of the DCGE overhaul that restructured the department’s equity-specific initiatives under the Office of Inclusive Excellence and assigned its remaining functions to other campus departments.

Mayo has firsthand knowledge of the challenges posed by the recent departures among diversity officials. For the past eight months, he has been doing double-duty as the interim director of multicultural education and training following the previous director’s departure last summer. 

“At a time when the institution needed assistance in equity and inclusion, he stepped in and has been a stabilizing and astute presence,” Fryson wrote. “As he assumes this new position, his institutional knowledge will be an invaluable asset.”

Mayo has worn a number of other hats in his three years at Quinnipiac. Since coming to Hamden in 2021, he has also served as the pre-law adviser, the lead administrator of the First-Year Immersion program, an adjunct faculty member and the faculty affiliate for several student organizations as well as the Multicultural Living Learning Community.

As director of inclusive excellence, Fryson wrote, Mayo will oversee the advancement of on-campus equity initiatives that ensure Quinnipiac “continues to be a welcoming environment where the sense of belonging is palpable and expanding.”

“Claude has demonstrated an outstanding level of commitment to Quinnipiac University in a variety of positions,” Fryson wrote. “He brings forth a wonderful ability to connect at all levels of our institution.”

Because the former assistant director subsequently resigned in December, it is not immediately clear who will succeed Mayo as director of multicultural education and training.

Mayo’s directorial appointment to the Office of Inclusive Excellence marks Fryson’s second permanent hire in his three-month tenure as the university’s interim chief equity officer.

Fryson’s other hire, Patricio Jimenez, took over as Quinnipiac’s Title IX coordinator on March 11. Jimenez — a lawyer and former Title IX investigator at Syracuse University who Fryson tapped to lead Quinnipiac’s Title IX office in January — is the university’s second permanent and fourth acting coordinator since January 2023.

Amid the DCGE overhaul, the university also established a religious inclusivity post: director of spiritual well-being. 

On March 8, the university appointed Jermaine Pearson, a Protestant chaplain and intercultural engagement specialist with over a decade of experience in higher education, to serve as the inaugural titleholder.

“Jermaine brings a deep commitment to building inclusive environments that nurture belonging and connection,” the press release posted to MyQ said. “Jermaine has demonstrated a remarkable ability to provide compassionate support to students, staff, and faculty from various cultural and religious backgrounds throughout his career.”

The mass exodus among administrators has not been exclusive to Quinnipiac’s diversity offices — turnover has affected the entire university recently.

Over the last 18 months, four university vice presidents have left Quinnipiac to take similar positions elsewhere.

Among them is Todd Sloan, former vice president for development and alumni affairs, who resigned in September to become Princeton Theological Seminary’s vice president for advancement. 

At the time, President Judy Olian appointed Nick Wormley, a former Quinnipiac student-athlete and the then-associate vice president for development and alumni affairs, to serve as the interim vice president until university officials could appoint Sloan’s permanent successor.

But over spring break, Olian removed the word “interim” from Wormley’s title — he is now Sloan’s permanent successor.

“Nick brings not only a love for our university, but also extensive alumni and development experience,” Olian wrote in a March 11 email to faculty and staff. “He has served as the Interim VP for the past five months and has demonstrated compelling leadership, fundraising successes, and strong connections to our alumni, parent and donor communities.”