By BARRETT NEWKIRK

INDIANAPOLIS — Anderson resident Gregory Scott is the new leader of Ivy Tech’s statewide diversity initiatives.

As the community college’s first assistant to the president for diversity and community relations, Scott will work with President Thomas Snyder to plan and implement diversity programs at Ivy Tech Community College’s 23 Indiana campuses.

“The attention on diversity is a college commitment and the commitment of Tom Snyder to embrace all members of our Hoosier community,” Scott said Monday.

Scott is married to Anderson native Carolyn Weatherly. He is the former director of the Indiana Civil Rights Commission and he is the first African American to sit on the Colorado Supreme Court.

Scott said his role at Ivy Tech will largely be as outreach to the communities the college serves.

“We want the communities to feel that the college truly represents the interests of their community as well as all of Indiana,” he said. “The college has such an important role in the economic development of Indiana.”

Gail Chesterfield, chancellor for the Ivy Tech region of campuses that includes Anderson, Muncie and Marion, said two likely outcomes of greater attention on diversity will be a more diverse faculty and training for diversity issues.

“Mr. Scott is from the Anderson community and will be very active in that community as he will be in other communities,” Chesterfield said. “And we’re looking forward to that.”

Scott earned his bachelor’s degree in environmental science and master’s degree in education from Rutgers University, and he graduated cum laude from the Indiana University School of Law.