Jackie Jenkins-Scott
President, Wheelock College
Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts
Website: www.wheelock.edu
Primary Business: Higher education
Employees: 380
Increase in Diverse Students and Investments in Education Needed
The growing body of research and literature on “diversity” indicates that the ability to work effectively in a diverse workforce is critical to being prepared for jobs in our innovation and knowledge-based twenty-first century economy. As president for nearly ten years, I have seen firsthand how a diverse student, staff, and faculty population is critical to providing a quality educational experience for our students, whom we hope will leave Wheelock prepared for success in today’s increasingly global society. In July 2012, we learned that the United States fell again in global rankings of our percentage of young adults earning a college degree. Our country is now ranked sixteenth in the world. The number of college graduates must more than double in order to achieve President Barack Obama’s goal of reclaiming world leadership in college graduation rates by 2020. This goal cannot be achieved without an increase in the diversity of students attending college and without investments in education. There also must be more intentional workforce preparation to increase our citizens’ skills and abilities to match the new knowledge economy.
This year, Wheelock celebrates its 125th Anniversary of living our mission to improve the lives of children and families. We strive to build an educational community that provides a challenging and nurturing intellectual environment built on a curriculum and pedagogy dedicated to diversity, social justice, and equality. We understand that a respect for human diversity and a genuine appreciation of how our many commonalities enrich our institutional mission and work are the best tools for our students as they graduate and make their contributions to society.
In the past seven years, we have made significant progress in our commitment to diversity. Today, 23 percent of all Wheelock undergraduate students are students of color and 32 percent of the 2014 class are students of color, with nearly 52 percent of this class being first in their families to attend college. I am most proud that our school has been recognized as having the most diverse faculty and staff of any institution in Boston, with nearly 30 percent of our faculty being African American, Latino, and Asian.
The United States is fast becoming a global, multilinguistic society, requiring intentional strategies for the preparation of the future workforce and leaders across all sectors. Our proud legacy of a commitment to diversity, in all aspects of the college community, is a role model for institutions across the country.
Education: BS, Eastern Michigan University; MS, Boston University School of Social Work; Post Graduate Research Fellowship at Radcliffe College
First Job: Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Public Health
What I’m Reading: Sister Citizen, by Melissa Harris Perry
My Philosophy: Work hard and live a life of integrity.
Best Advice: Always treat others as you would like to be treated.
Interests: Walking, reading, travel
