Transitions in Leadership: A conversation with Nicole Hodges Persley

a resource of oral testimonies from leaders in the arts on theories and pathways to leadership

Monday, December 2 at 5pm ET / 4pmCT / 2pmPT

Transitions in Leadership is a resource of oral testimonies from leaders in the arts on theories and pathways to leadership from the classroom to cabinet in higher education. Professional Development VP Omiyẹmi (Artisia) Green hosts Nicole Hodges Persley, Vice Provost for Community Impact at the University of Kansas.

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Nicole Hodges Persley, Ph.D., is a distinguished scholar, artist, and community
leader who currently serves as the Vice Provost of Community Impact at the
University of Kansas (KU). With over two decades of experience in advancing
diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB), Dr. Hodges Persley has become a
nationally recognized voice for creating equitable pathways that bridge academic
and creative communities. She is the former Vice Provost of Diversity, Equity, and
Inclusion at KU, where she led innovative strategies to embed DEIB principles into
university structures and initiatives.

A tenured, award-winning professor, Dr. Hodges Persley holds dual faculty
appointments in American Studies and African & African American Studies at KU.
Her interdisciplinary teaching spans acting, directing, Hip-Hop Studies, Performance
Studies, African American Studies, and transnational performance. As a scholar-
artist, she has made significant contributions to Theater and Performance Studies,
with a research emphasis on Black performance and Hip-Hop theater.
Her published works include Sampling and Remixing Blackness in Hip-Hop Theater
and Performance (University of Michigan, 2021), the anthology Black Matters: The
Lewis Morrow Plays (Bloomsbury/Methuen Drama, 2022), Breaking it Down:
Audition Techniques for Actors of the Global Majority (co-authored with Dr. Monica
White Ndounou), Hip-Hop in Musical Theater (Bloomsbury Drama, 2023), and Diva:
Feminism and Fierceness from Pop to Hip-Hop (Bloomsbury, 2023). Her scholarship
has been recognized for its impact on contemporary performance and its focus on
the voices and experiences of the global majority.

As the Artistic Director of KC Melting Pot Theater, Kansas City’s premier African
American theater company, Dr. Hodges Persley has directed critically acclaimed
productions and short films that have received widespread acclaim. She is also a
member of SAG-AFTRA and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society,
actively working within professional circles to advocate for greater diversity and
representation.

Dr. Hodges Persley is a co-founder of CreateEnsemble.com, the first collaborative
digital platform designed to support artists and allies of the global majority. Her
academic credentials include a Ph.D. and M.A. in American Studies & Ethnicity from
the University of Southern California, an M.A. in African American Studies from
UCLA, and a B.A., summa cum laude, in French, Art History, and Theater from
Spelman College.