Christine Lovely, vice president and chief human resources officer at Cornell, is stepping down to pursue a job as the inaugural vice chancellor for campus human resources at the University of California, Los Angeles, according to the Cornell Chronicle.
During her three-year term, which started in 2022, Lovely oversaw Cornell’s Department of Inclusion and Belonging, Human Resources and Cornell’s Office Of Civil Rights. All three of these sections saw major events or changes during her tenure, including allegations of misconduct and inadequacy against the HR department of eCornell, a name change of the COCR, and the removal and partial restoration of Cornell’s Equal Employment Opportunity Statement. Lovely also headed negotiations with United Auto Workers Local 2300 during their 2024 strike.
Lovely, who succeeded the 25-year-long term of Mary Opperman, voiced her approach to diversity at the time in a 2022 interview with the Cornell Chronicle.
“Diversity is a fact of life. But the question is, what do we do as a university, and how does it show up as a priority,” Lovely said. “It’s important that diversity is one of the lenses through which we view everything that we do in HR, from recruiting to onboarding to transitioning people away from the university. I always try to infuse diversity and inclusion into what we do.”
Since then diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives have become a point of contention at the University, and a target for the Trump administration.
In Cornell’s recent settlement with the federal government that restored nearly $250 million in frozen research funding, the University also agreed to incorporate federal guidelines for discrimination as a training resource for faculty and staff. These guidelines deem race-based decisions on admissions and hiring, DEI programs and more as “unlawful.”
During the time Lovley spent in her role, Cornell withdrew and later restored DEI references and resources in the University’s Equal Opportunity Statement, attributing the change to a “clerical error.” However, the revised statement, unlike the prior version, no longer included references to affirmative action requirements.
According to the Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer website, the Department of Inclusion and Belonging, which Lovely oversees, is responsible for “developing the University’s equal employment opportunity and affirmative action compliance programs.”
Cornell HR also received criticism when several former e-Cornell employees revealed misconduct in the workplace that was inadequately addressed by e-Cornell administrators and HR.
In a secretly recorded conversation with an eCornell employee from 2023 that was obtained by The Sun, Cooper Sirwatka, the University administrator in charge of civil rights compliance, criticized eCornell’s HR division.
“Everyone I talked to is saying the same thing [about eCornell],” Sirwatka said, describing the organization as having “just blatant, terrible HR processes.”
He added that he was scheduled to meet with Lovely, “with a myriad of eCornell-related issues.”
At the time a University spokesperson said that Cornell does not comment on individual personnel matters but that eCornell’s “HR decisions are made after careful consideration, following University policy and applicable law.”
Lovely however, according to reporting by the Cornell Chronicle on her departure, said that she’s proud of HR’s efforts in the area of human resources optimization highlighting efforts in the area of human resources optimization, the new Careers Hub, which offers a facilitated and personalized manner to explore career opportunities across the University.
She also said she’s proud of recent initiatives such as CoworkerCoffee and Workforce Affinity Groups.
When asked about why she was leaving Cornell, Lovely told The Chronicle that it was a decision that came with “mixed feelings”
“I truly love Ithaca, I love Cornell, and my time here has been really good to me,” she said. “It’s helped me grow in many different ways, and I have an amazing team of HR professionals that I work with that I will miss greatly.
Speaking to the Cornell Chronicle, President Michael Kotlikoff thanked Lovely for her dedicated work.
“[Lovely] helped guide our human resources through rapid transformation following the COVID-19 pandemic, and a challenging period for higher education, and I appreciate her tireless efforts,” Kotlikoff said. “We wish her the very best in her career.”
Lovely will start her new position at UCLA on Dec.18. Sean Moeller, associate vice president for human resources, will fill the role as interim vice president and chief human resources officer.
Benjamin Leynse is a member of the Class of 2027 in the College of Arts and Sciences. He is a news editor for the 143rd Editorial Board and can be reached at bleynse@cornellsun.com.
