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Jordan Shelby West

Jordan Shelby West

Jordan Shelby West, PhD (she/her) is the Associate Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement at the George Washington University. In this capacity, Dr. West is responsible for creating and implementing justice-centered and equitable strategic planning, sustainable change, and educational opportunities across the institution that informs people, policies, and practices, in order to continue shifting the campus towards a more positive and just climate. Dr. West also teaches courses on Black Feminist Theory for undergraduate and graduate students. Dr. West identifies as a scholar activist and is a formally trained social justice, anti-racist educator and facilitator. Prior to joining GW, Dr. West was an inaugural diversity officer at Princeton University, where she created an 18-month certificate program on diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice for leaders, faculty, and staff. Before joining Princeton, Dr. West worked in the Division of Student Affairs at Syracuse University and directed a dialogue program entitled Conversations About Race & Ethnicity (C.A.R.E.). On a national level, Dr. West is a consultant to institutions of higher education, organizations, and companies and serves on boards for education-based associations. Dr. West has been invited by the White House to speak at multiple events hosted by the President of the United States, Department of Education, and the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Black Americans. Dr. West remains engaged as a scholar practitioner through presenting, research, and publishing. Dr. West’s experience and continued research interests focus on campus climate, narrative and storytelling as a method, and how individuals from historically marginalized identities work towards liberation in higher education through the lens of Black Feminist Theory and Critical Race Theory, and through the process of disrupting systemic oppression.

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