USU Hires New Title IX Coordinator

Utah State University has a new Title IX coordinator joining the Office of Equity staff. Cody Carmichael began serving in this role during the final week of July.

Carmichael comes to USU from the University of North Texas in Denton, where he has been the assistant director for equal opportunity and Title IX since August 2021. Previously, he was a litigation attorney for a Dallas law firm specializing in employment discrimination cases.

“The transition from being an attorney to being a Title IX/Equal Opportunity professional was an easy one to make,” Carmichael said. “I’ve always sought to help those around me, and working in Title IX felt like the logical expansion of what I was already doing. I had worked helping those who were in the workforce, and I had the opportunity to not only do that but to also expand into working with students and Title IX.”

At North Texas, Carmichael conducted investigations related to discrimination, harassment, sexual misconduct and retaliation to determine whether university policy was violated. He also served on the university’s Clery Compliance Committee and a policy review committee.

As USU’s Title IX coordinator, Carmichael will focus on compliance with federal Title IX regulations and university sexual misconduct policy. This includes ensuring the university's prompt response to incident reports of sexual misconduct, coordinating effective implementation of supportive measures, informing claimants of their option to file a formal complaint, and informing involved parties of their rights and obligations under the grievance process.

He will also be involved in other Office of Equity work, like university-wide training and education efforts, and USU’s biannual sexual misconduct surveys of students and employees that help the office identify opportunities for improving those efforts.

“We are thrilled to have Cody join our team,” said Matt Pinner, executive director of the Office of Equity. “His prior experience as an investigator and assistant director for the Office of Equal Opportunity at the University of North Texas provides him with a multifaceted perspective of the issues that arise when handling Title IX matters.”

Carmichael replaces Hilary Renshaw, who served as USU’s Title IX coordinator from 2018-2022 and is now an associate general counsel for the Utah System of Higher Education.

As he begins his new role at USU, Carmichael is focused on continuing to grow the university community’s trust in the Title IX office and staff.

“I want to prioritize considerate, timely and equitable processing of all Title IX concerns and complaints,” he said. “And I want to listen and learn from students, staff and faculty alike as to what they need or want in order to ensure that each and every person has the support, tools and guidance they need from the Title IX office.”

For more information about USU’s Office of Equity, visit equity.usu.edu. The office also produces an annual report summarizing its work over the previous year.