Former Assistant Provost for Diversity and Inclusion
Nsombi B. Ricketts served as Assistant Provost for Diversity and Inclusion at Northwestern University. As assistant provost, Nsombi leads the operations, marketing and communications for the Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion (OIDI). She collaborates with institutional leadership, internal partners, and external stakeholders to promote a culture of equity and inclusion for all Northwestern students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community partners. During her tenure in OIDI, Nsombi initiated the development of Northwestern's diversity, equity and inclusion strategic plan, revamped OIDI websites, created a new format for the annual Northwestern Diversity and Inclusion Report, and served as Chair of the Diversity Leaders Group and Staff Engagement Champion for the Office of the Provost.
Previously, Nsombi served as the inaugural assistant dean for diversity and inclusion at The Graduate School (TGS) at Northwestern University. She established the TGS Office of Diversity and Inclusion, developed the overall diversity and inclusion strategy, and led recruitment and retention efforts to diversify the graduate community. During her tenure at TGS, Nsombi implemented a new diversity recruitment strategy which led to the most diverse PhD class in Northwestern's history and launched a new format for the annual TGS Diversity Report.
Prior to Northwestern, Nsombi was the Senior Director of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion at Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management. During her tenure at Cornell, she established the Johnson Diversity Council, led initiatives to recruit, develop and support diverse students, faculty and staff, and recruited the most diverse MBA classes in the school's history. Nsombi transitioned to academia after a corporate career with roles in diversity and inclusion, human resources, and marketing at American Express, AON Consulting, The Princeton Review, and Kaplan Test Prep.
Nsombi earned her BS in Education and Social Policy from Northwestern University and her MBA from Goizueta Business School at Emory University as a Consortium for Graduate Study in Management Fellow. She was a member of The Consortium for Graduate Study in Management’s Board of Trustees and The Graduate Management Admission Council’s Diversity Advisory Group. Nsombi was also honored with a Global Multicultural Leader Award and The Consortium 10 Year Anniversary Alumni Award from Goizueta Business School.