Academic executive director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity Ange-Marie Hancock looks to implement  equitable, long-term solutions for inequalities in Central Ohio communities. Credit: The Ohio State University

After spending the last 14 years in Los Angeles, Columbus native Ange-Marie Hancock was excited to come home. Yet, when she returned, she found one of the casualties of the COVID-19 pandemic was the permanent closure of her favorite local restaurant, Max and Erma’s. 

Although her favorite burger joint may cease to exist, Hancock said she found promise in other, more positive changes in Columbus through community-engaged research in her new role as academic executive director of the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity.

In her new role at the Kirwan Institute, Hancock is set on creating permanent, systemic changes to further build long-term, equitable communities within Central Ohio. She said she is most excited to use the data the institute collects to partner with communities and give them the choice to build their futures.

“Kirwan is not going to go around dictating what communities should have in their futures,” Hancock said. “It’s really, ‘How can we partner with your community to help you figure it out together?’”

Kyle Strickland, compliance specialist at the Kirwan Institute, said the institute’s research will build a more “inclusive place.”

“It’s not research that’s just going to sit on the bookshelves or just stay in academia. It’s really supposed to engage community and make sure that we’re not doing research to communities, but with communities,” Strickland said.

Hancock previously held positions at University of Southern California as department chair and dean’s professor of political science and international relations. During her time at the university, she also directed the USC Institute for Intersectionality and Social Transformation and the USC Dornsife Center for Leadership by Women of Color, according to USC Dornsife’s website. 

Hancock said she conducted work similar to her strategic vision while in Los Angeles with an initiative called No Going Back LA — community members and civic leaders developing long-term changes to help marginalized populations. 

Senior Vice Provost for Inclusive Excellence Wendy Smooth said in a statement the university is fortunate to have attracted a leader of Hancock’s caliber, with experience in various scholarly fields ranging from the social sciences to public policy and education. 

“[Hancock’s] insights will help us to surface 21st century questions rooted in race and ethnicity but that extend to how we understand the confluence of systems that inform our identities whether we think of urban or rural dimensions of identity or the economically vulnerable,” Smooth said. “She is a trusted thought leader who will add to the university’s ability to lead on these complex issues that impact Ohioans and the nation.”

Strickland said Hancock has a “vision of where she wants to take the Kirwan Institute, thinking about how we can embrace the past 20 years of the institute and then also moving forward in the future.” He said she also knows “this vision is a part of a broader collaboration with other staff, other community members.” 

Hancock said she is eager to conduct more collaborative research in her new role and reach a vast array of topics — such as employment, health disparities and education. 

“We really want to become a multi-issue organization,” Hancock said. “What I’d like to do is to really set up and make sure that we could communicate on maybe up to 10 different issues at the same time, right? And really look at the changing populations in the state of Ohio.”

Hancock will be sharing her strategic vision plan March 9 in which she will explain how the institute can embrace and honor its past work while continuing to grow, Strickland said.

Hancock said through her new position, she wants to combine the best aspects of the past and future.

“I just want to make sure that the things that I really love about Columbus and that we all love about Ohio — that we keep what’s good, and then we also make room for what might be new,” Hancock said.