Q&A with Acting Provost Jennifer Drake

August 6, 2024 (Volume 47, Number 20)

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Jennifer Drake, acting provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs

Photo Credit: Cory Morse

Jennifer Drake started August 1 as acting provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs. She had served as the dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences since July 2020. Drake said she was inspired early in her career to help ensure the transformative experience of education is available to all students, and she is excited about the opportunity in her new role to help strengthen GVSU's mission of a barrier-free, empowered education. 

Tell us about your background and how it has prepared you for this role. 
Since I've been at Grand Valley, I have been learning about Grand Valley's history and culture, building relationships and understanding the amazing strength and assets of this institution. I have loved my time here. Prior to coming to Grand Valley, I was provost for three years at the Evergreen State College, which is the public liberal arts institution of Washington State. Prior to that, I was dean at the University of Indianapolis for six years and founding director of the Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellowship Program there for three years. Also, I'm an English professor, with expertise in both literature and creative writing, so I was in the classroom for many years.  

What makes an education at Grand Valley distinct? 
Grand Valley has long been committed to a relationship-rich education that is built around the connection between students and faculty, particularly as manifested through high-impact practices and experiential learning. That's the Grand Valley way. And, of course, part of what we're now doing is committing to an empowered educational experience for all students, ensuring that the high-quality experience that students have at Grand Valley is accessible. 

When we talk to our Grand Valley alumni, they remember the opportunities they had to conduct research alongside faculty, to study abroad or study away, to engage in internships, co-ops and clinical experiences, and many other community-based, hands-on learning opportunities. The stories our alumni tell is how these experiences transformed their lives by helping them discover new passions, discern their life’s purpose and connect them to careers. That's what a high-quality Grand Valley education is all about. 

How do you envision building on GVSU's innovations and successes? 
Coming into this role, I'm certainly thinking about continuity and stability as I continue to support the initiatives upon which we have embarked. There has been a lot of creative and essential work happening. We need to have a through line from innovative ideas all the way to implementation and assessment to ensure the quality of the education we provide. Examples include continuing to deepen our work around the CLAS Voyage; fully launching our Corewell Health West Nurse Scholars program to address the nursing shortage and our state-funded College of Education and Community Innovation programs to address the teacher and social worker shortages; and supporting the Padnos College of Engineering and the new College of Computing as they expand relationships with our West Michigan community and employer partners to build the talent pipeline and our Blue Dot ecosystem.  

I'm excited about innovative programs like the Laker Accelerated Talent Link, which connects students — particularly those in majors from CLAS and Brooks College of Interdisciplinary Studies — to the opportunity to add a tech-related certificate to their degree along with a paid internship with one of our corporate partners. We are working to expand these partnerships to include non-profit organizations and small businesses to be able to serve our West Michigan community fully. Seidman College of Business is launching an Experiential Learning and Sales Lab that will use simulation technology to create a "real-world" business environment for students that links the development of "human skills" with the development of skills related to sales interactions, negotiation and other interactions in business settings. 

What are some key ways the Provost's Office can support the university imperatives of Reach Higher 2025 as well as meeting all students wherever they are in their learning path? 
We need to continue to lean deeply into our student success work in collaboration with other divisions on campus. For instance, there has been a major redesign of advising that needs to be fully implemented this year so that all of our students are being supported in a holistic way. We're excited to welcome 15 new professional advisors this fall.

Faculty and staff members have been integral to a body of work around supporting student success in large introductory courses. We're doing some really exciting work with these courses to balance rigor and support to help students meet the challenges of those courses successfully, including embedding peer mentors/tutors and thinking about these courses as possible spaces of belonging and connection. 

These collaborations also include partnering with Kara Van Dam, chief executive of Omni, to support the implementation of GVSU's vision for serving adult learners where they are with a high-quality education. 

Why have you devoted your career to higher education academics? 
I was one of those students who was on a voyage, determining my passion and purpose, exploring lots of things. After I graduated from college I got a job as a tutoring coordinator in the Educational Opportunity Program’s writing center at Buffalo State College, and it was there that I became excited about how I could support first-generation learners, adult learners and other students underrepresented in higher education on their educational journeys. I worked with these amazing students as they developed their voices as writers, and they inspired me to become a professor. I am grateful to them and all the other students I’ve spent time with over the years. They have been my best teachers.

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