Athens, Ga. – E. Janyce Dawkins, associate director of the University of Georgia Equal Opportunity Office, has been named interim director of the office effective July 1.She succeeds J. Stephen Shi, who is leaving to return part time to the faculty of the UGA School of Law and to pursue private practice after three years as EOO director.
Dawkins received B.S. and M.B.A. degrees from the University of Southwestern Louisiana, now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She worked for 12 years with BellSouth Corp. as a strategic planner and financial analyst before entering Florida State University School of Law, where she graduated in 1994. She subsequently worked as an attorney in Atlanta in the areas of labor and employment law and workers’ compensation. During that period, she taught business law and business communications at Tuskegee University. Before joining the UGA Equal Opportunity Office, she was an assistant district attorney in the Western Judicial Circuit serving Clarke and Oconee counties.
“Steve Shi has been a wonderful university citizen and has shown grace and good judgment in dealing with difficult issues. He will be missed,” said UGA President Michael F. Adams. “I have great confidence in Janyce Dawkins and her ability to manage the Equal Opportunity Office on an interim basis; I know the entire university community joins me in thanking her for her commitment to this effort.”
The EOO is responsible for UGA’s compliance with federal and state laws dealing with access to employment, enrollment and other programs and services. The office assists the university in compliance matters with the Georgia Commission on Equal Opportunity, U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights and U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The office is responsible for investigating complaints of discrimination and harassment at UGA and enforcing the university’s Non-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment policy. The office also administers the university’s affirmative action plan and maintains the University System of Georgia Applicant Clearinghouse, a job placement referral service for colleges and universities in the system.
