Biography of Edna Chun

Edna B. Chun is an educational leader and award-winning author with more than two decades of strategic human resource and diversity leadership experience in public higher education. Dr. Chun holds the Doctor of Music and Master of Music degrees with High Distinction from the Indiana University School of Music, the Master of Arts degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude from Oberlin College. Dr. Chun currently serves as Chief Learning Officer for HigherEd Talent, a national human resource and diversity consulting firm that specializes in talent management.

Dr. Chun’s award-winning books include Are the Walls Really Down? Behavioral and Organizational Barriers to Faculty and Staff Diversity, coauthored with Alvin Evans (Jossey-Bass, 2007), and Bridging the Diversity Divide: Globalization and Reciprocal Empowerment in Higher Education (Jossey-Bass, 2009). Both books received the prestigious Kathryn G. Hansen Publication Award by the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) for their contribution to the human resource profession. Chun and Evans’ co-authored book, The New Talent Acquisition Frontier: Integrating HR and Diversity Strategy in the Private and Public Sectors and Higher Education (Stylus, 2014), received a silver medal in the 2014 Axiom Business Book Awards and is the first book to provide a concrete road map to the integration of HR and diversity strategy.

Recent publications include Diverse Administrators in Peril: The New Indentured Class in Higher Education (Paradigm, 2012), the first in-depth examination of the work experiences of minority, female, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender administrators in higher education, and Creating a Tipping Point: Strategic Human Resources in Higher Education (Jossey Bass, 2012), a research-based approach to the development of strategic HR talent management practices in higher education. Dr. Chun’s new book, Department Chairs as Transformative Diversity Leaders: Building Inclusive Learning Environments in Higher Education (Stylus, 2015) is the first research-based resource on the academic department

chair’s role in diversity transformation. Other publications include, Affirmative Action at a Crossroads: Fisher and Forward (Jossey-Boss, 2015), a practical guide that provides strategies and recommendations for campuses seeking to build a campus ecosystem that supports diversity in the wake of the landmark Supreme Court decision. Just published is Rethinking Cultural Competence in Higher Education: An Ecological Framework for Student Development(Jossey-Bass, 2016). This research-based study draws on the findings of a survey of recent college graduates now working as professionals to offer leading-edge, integrative models that offer the potential for the attainment of diversity competence for undergraduate students.

Dr. Chun is author and co-author of numerous articles on talent management, diversity, and inclusion in leading professional journals and newsletters including The Academic Leader, The Department Chair Newsletter, Diverse Magazine, Hispanic Outlook, INSIGHT into Diversity Magazine, andThe Higher Education Workplace. She is a sought-after speaker on diversity, human resources, and talent management strategies at national and regional conferences such as the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE), the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the American Council on Education (ACE), the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), the American Association for Access, Equity, and Diversity (AAED), and the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR). Dr. Chun was awarded the 2010 Excellence in Human Resources Award by the South Florida Business Journal for her accomplishments in recruitment, retention, and teambuilding. She was also the recipient of the 2010 Multi-cultural Achievers Award by InFOCUS Magazine.

Dr. Chun serves as a member of a number of influential national and local boards including the Advisory Board of the Department ChairNewsletter (Jossey Bass); Editorial Board of INSIGHT into Diversity Magazine; Board of Directors of Kendal-at-Home; and the Board of Directors, Fund for Leadership, Equity, Access, and Diversity, American Association for Access, Equity, and Diversity. She was elected for two successive three-year terms to the Editorial Advisory Board for the Higher Education Report Series of the Association for the Study of Higher Education.