Carnegie Mellon University has selected Kelli Shuman to serve as its new Associate Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer after conducting a search across the country. Shuman has almost 20 years of significant experience in the human resources field, especially in higher education, making her the right person to oversee the implementation of the CMU’s HR plans.
Shuman’s previous position was with Elon University where she has worked as the Associate Vice President of Human Resources and Chief Human Resources Officer since 2019. With an extensive and multifaceted scope of responsibilities in her position, she was in charge of offering strategic and integrated management of all areas of human resources, which include benefits, relations, procurement, staff development, training, recognition, health, and performance measurement programs. Furthermore, she also stood as a member of the president’s senior staff advocating for the initiatives earmarked to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion spearheaded by Elon.
“I am delighted to welcome Kelli to CMU and look forward to her leadership of our superb HR team,” said Mary Jo Dively, CMU’s Vice President and General Counsel, and Secretary of the Corporation. “Everyone who met with Kelli throughout the interview process was impressed with her warmth, her experience and as importantly, her service-oriented attitude and approach.”
Shuman has great exposure and has worked in higher education human resources as a specialist across the country. She concurrently sits on the national College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR) Board of Directors as a treasurer and an executive committee member, and as a board member at large of the Society of Higher Education Human Resources Executives (SHEHRE).
Shuman’s time at Elon coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic’s emergence, and she became instrumental in the university’s reaction to this crisis. She also participated in several committees; she was chiefly involved in creating policies, procedures, and programs to be in the short-term that would be helpful to employees during the crisis. In particular, she had the opportunity to supervise the rather important issue of technology enhancement educationally used in the organization, proper application of analytical tools, and checks of effectiveness of HR processes and decisions made more frequently depending on further enhancement of the existing procedures and regulations.
“I am thrilled and honored to join Carnegie Mellon University and its dedicated HR team as the next chief human resources officer,” Shuman said. “During the interview process, it was clear that CMU’s employees are passionate about their work and deeply believe in the university’s vision, mission, and values. I am excited to be part of this dynamic and innovative community, eager to support the students, faculty, and staff, and contribute to our collective success.”
Before joining Elon as the AVP, Shuman worked at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology located in Rapid City where she worked as the Vice President of Human Resources and Resources Services thus making her in charge of all facets of Human Resources. As the director of Title IX, she was also responsible for the following outreach and education initiatives: the Sexual Assault Response and the Bystander Intervention. One such achievement was in the formation of the South Dakota Mines President’s Leadership Academy, which is a twelve-month leadership program that seeks to nurture leadership within that institution.
Shuman graduated from Black Hills State University with a Bachelor of Business Administration and human resource management and acquired a master’s degree from the University of South Dakota in Administration and Human Resource Management. She also studied at the Institute for Educational Management at the Harvard Graduate School of Education the same year of 2014.
Based on several years of experience, important leadership skills, and the subsequent involvement in the creation of a favorable work climate that will enable Carnegie Mellon University to recruit, train, as well as retain high-quality human resources in the sphere of higher education, Kelli Shuman will bring considerable changes to the further advancement of the human resources sector at the mentioned institution.