Christopher Manning
Chief Inclusion and Diversity Officer
Christopher Manning, an experienced leader and advocate for diversity in higher education, was appointed chief inclusion and diversity officer in March 2021. He joins USC after serving as both an assistant and an associate provost for academic diversity for nearly five years at Loyola University Chicago.
At Loyola, Manning became the first assistant provost for academic diversity in 2016. He evaluated the campus climate and created practices to promote inclusion as he sought input from students, faculty and staff. Identifying barriers to student success and the retention of diverse faculty were among his top priorities. During his tenure at Loyola, he also spent many years teaching and conducting research on the histories of marginalized populations.
In addition to administrative experience, Manning has been an associate professor of history at Loyola since 2008, teaching subjects such as Black history, the civil rights movement, Black politics and 20th-century American history.
Manning also has a strong connection to the arts. He was a professional Latin dancer and the executive director and founder of the nonprofit dance company Inspiration Dance Chicago, which offered free youth and adult Latin dance training in Chicago.
As part of the president’s senior leadership team, Manning is responsible for building strategies, programs, and initiatives that reinforce USC’s commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity, and belonging and to address ongoing challenges of discrimination and bias. He will also lead the university’s Diversity and Inclusion Council and work collaboratively with faculty, staff, and student leaders across USC to deliver sustained, measurable improvements in educational and organizational environments.
Manning will take an active role in several of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives, including the President and Provost’s Taskforce on Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and the Department of Public Safety Community Advisory Board.
Manning holds a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and a master’s degree and PhD in history from Northwestern University.
Last Updated: 03/01/21