John Jay College Of Criminal Justice | The City University of New York

   

March 4, 2013 -- John Jay College has welcomed Lynette Cook-Francis as the College’s new Vice President for Student Affairs.  Prior to joining the College, Vice President Cook-Francis had a distinguished 15-year career at the University of Arizona, a research-intensive university of 38,000 students.

Most recently, she served as the university’s Senior Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs.  In that capacity, in addition to traditional student activities, she had oversight responsibility for academic partnership programs, tutoring support, Faculty Fellows and community programs at the University.  She directed the development and implementation of a university-wide strategic plan for student success that won a “best practices” national award from the Consortium for Student Retention Data Exchange. She previously served as the university’s Assistant Vice President for Multicultural Affairs and Student Success, where she was responsible for issues pertaining to diversity, multiculturalism and students with disabilities.

For two summers, she led the Semester at Sea global study abroad program, in coordination with the University of Virginia. Before her tenure at the University of Arizona, Vice President Cook-Francis was a lecturer in education and Director of Multicultural and International Student Affairs at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash. She has also held appointments as an assistant professor of English at various colleges in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.  Vice President Cook-Francis has a B.A. in English and an M.S. Ed. in Secondary English Education from the University of Pennsylvania , and is near completion of her Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from Northern Arizona University. Her dissertation is a “study of student outcomes in the mega-classroom.”

In announcing her appointment, President Jeremy Travis said, “We are indeed fortunate that our new Vice President is a person of such remarkably broad professional accomplishments and deep experience in higher education.” He added: “Based on the feedback I received following her campus interviews in December, and my personal interactions with her, it is also clear that we are welcoming a new leader of uncommon creativity, energy and vision. Building on the strong foundation laid by Berenecea Johnson Eanes during her impressive tenure, Vice President Cook-Francis will elevate the work of our strong student affairs staff, create new partnerships with our faculty and academic affairs programs, and bring new vitality to student life on our campus.”