October 18, 2021
Following a national search that drew the interest of many excellent candidates, Oakland University is appointing Joi Cunningham, assistant vice president for Academic Human Resources, to become OU’s next vice president for Human Resources (VPHR).
A search process for the position began earlier this year following the announcement that former VPHR Ron Watson would be retiring in June. A nine-member search committee chaired by Peggy Cooke, assistant vice president for Academic Affairs, was appointed and worked with Harris Search Associates to bring forward the four candidate finalists. As the top candidate, Cunningham will officially assume her new role on Monday, Nov. 1.
“Although we had four outstanding, highly qualified candidate finalists for this position, the sum of Joi’s expertise, breadth of experience, institutional knowledge and many contributions toward the realization of our strategic goals simply could not be matched,” said Joshua D. Merchant, Ph.D., chief of staff for Oakland University. “We look forward to her continued success and all the benefits that will bring to the university community.”
A strong advocate of advancing diversity, equity and inclusion on campus and beyond, Cunningham has helped raise awareness of DEI issues and initiatives and contributed to efforts to develop, implement and refine university processes, practices and structures. In addition to her many efforts with the university, she is also active with the ACE Network of Michigan Women of Color Collaborative.
Over the last five years, Cunningham has also provided strategic planning and counsel to the provost and deans; managed employee relations issues among faculty, full and part-time faculty, deans and academic administrators; implemented a new, online system to track the life cycle of faculty professional activities; served on university negotiating teams; helped develop strategic compensation initiatives; and developed and implemented faculty development communication strategies.
Prior to her role in Academic Affairs, Cunningham served for 13 years as director of OU’s Office of Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives and as a university attorney.
“I look forward to leading a new human resources unit that joins the academic and staff functions and works to find more efficient ways to accomplish our collective goals,” Cunningham said. “I will continue to build relationships campus-wide and look at ways at ensuring excellent service to the university community and those we serve.”
Reporting to the chief of staff, the VPHR has university-wide accountability for leading human capital strategies and programs to build an effective and inclusive, high-performance culture. The VPHR also provides leadership and direction to the university and HR department overseeing talent acquisition, classification and compensation, employee records and information systems, training and development, benefits administration, employee relations, performance management, faculty and staff appointments and employee recognition.