Experienced administrator named Title IX compliance director

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Western Michigan University has tapped an experienced higher education administrator to become its first director of Title IX compliance, a new position in the Office of Institutional Equity.

Felicia T. Crawford, a director of human resources at WMU, will take up the new post Tuesday, Dec. 1.

The position at WMU is specifically designed to lead and assist the University's senior officials with the campuswide coordination, integration and monitoring of policy implementation; adherence to federal, state and local guidelines; and additional efforts related to federal Title IX, Title VII, Clery Act/Violence Against Women Act and other civil rights laws and matters involving WMU students and employees.

Compliance position

"Felicia Crawford was a strong candidate in a competitive and public selection process for this new position at the University, says Evelyn B. Winfield-Thomas, executive director of the Office of Institutional Equity.

"Her professional background and skill set, and knowledge of higher education, situate her very well to successfully perform the duties associated with this important role for colleges and universities nationwide. We look forward to her joining the Office of Institutional Equity and providing leadership for our Title IX efforts campuswide."

In the new role, Crawford will oversee impartial investigations into allegations of sexual and gender-based harassment and violence, intimate partner violence and stalking. She also will be involved in the education, training and prevention of all forms of sexual and gender-based harassment and violence at the University.

Felicia T. Crawford

Crawford has been a human resources director at WMU since 2005 and provided oversight and direction for Human Resources from 2007 to 2012 in the absence of an associate vice president for the unit.

As a director, she has been responsible for a wide range of activities related to areas such as employee relations; the application of law, policy, practice and collective bargaining agreements; hiring; benefits; employee pay administration and records; organizational structure and compensation, and activities related to employee communications and maintaining a healthy and safe learning environment.

Those activities have included extensive participation in diversity and harassment training, with Crawford implementing Universitywide online training for preventing sexual harassment in 2005 and then incorporating Title IX and bullying prevention training in 2013.

She came to WMU in 2001 as manager of human resources strategy and development, a position in which she was charged with leading the University's training and development function. Prior to that, she analyzed a variety of organizational training needs as a performance specialist at Tenneco Automotive in Marshall from 1998 to 2001.

Crawford earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from WMU in 1996 and a master's degree in applied behavior analysis-organizational behavior management in 1997. In addition, she has earned Senior Professional in Human Resources certification and is Certified in Instructional Design and Training Marketing.

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