After a two-year vacancy, Katrice Albert will be the new vice president for equity and diversity, University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler announced Friday in an email.

Currently the vice provost for equity and diversity at Louisiana State University, where she has worked for 12 years, Albert holds a doctorate in psychology.

She will be the University of Minnesota’s “chief diversity officer,” leading multicultural, equity and access programs. She will start June 28 pending regents’ approval. Kris Lockhart, associate vice president for equity and diversity, will serve in the interim.

Kaler has said from the start of his presidency that increasing campus diversity is one of his top priorities.

This semester, 67.7 percent of students on the Twin Cities campus are white.

“She is a creative and engaging individual with tremendous energy and enthusiasm for thinking about equity and diversity work in a strategic way,” Kaler said in the email.

Albert was part of the second batch of candidates for the position, which has been open for the past two years. Robert Jones, senior vice president for academic administration, previously told the Minnesota Daily that the first round of candidates — selected last April — were not “suitable” for the position.

Nancy Barcelo, the former vice president for equity and diversity, left in 2010 to serve as president at Northern New Mexico College.