Why Language Matters
STORY BY PEG WEST
Jennifer Drake, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs, joined Grand Valley in 2020 as dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences before her 2025 appointment to her current position. An English professor who regularly incorporates poetry into written and spoken messages to help convey her thoughts, Drake reflects on her tenets as a leader, the promise of a Grand Valley education and the importance of selecting the ideal words for communicating.
What makes a GVSU education distinctive in your view?
At Grand Valley, we have a long history of valuing liberal education, defined as honing one's ability to exercise freedom, to engage thoughtfully, to think independently, to seek understanding, to create new knowledge and systems and material objects, to make decisions, to take action. And, we have a long history of viewing liberal education and high-quality, experience-based professional preparation as integrated parts of our students' multifaceted learning journeys. At this inflection point for higher education, having clarity about that integration will guide us.
You are a poet at heart. How does that creative way of seeing the world show up in your decision making?
I talk a lot about the "both/and" in my decision making, and I think that interest in moving past binary thinking toward another way is grounded in the poet's interest in making meaning from seemingly disparate parts, thinking associatively through juxtaposition, creating metaphors and images to see things in new ways.
And when I'm faced with difficult decisions that require navigating constraints, I remind myself of the experience of writing a sonnet, a sestina, a villanelle, a renga, where the rules of the poetic form close off certain creative moves, but open up other moves that would otherwise not have been apparent. I appreciate that kind of surprise.
You were an English professor before moving to administration. How does that classroom experience inform the way you lead today?
I ran all my classes as seminars or workshops. So, as a community of listeners and learners, we paid close attention to the text at hand — novels, poems, stories, memoirs, essays, films, songs, photographs, paintings — to see how they were made, how they made meaning, how we made meaning in conversation about them. My classes always included a really diverse group of learners, and I worked hard to take an assets-based approach to meeting students where they were, and to create spaces of exchange and belonging that would help them grow as readers, writers and curious thinkers.
When I lead, I bring that same commitment to convening conversations, to listening, to seeking to understand the diversity of my community, to coming to new ways of seeing through making meaning together.
I'll also say that words matter deeply to me. Choosing the right words, putting them together in the right way, informs my approach to communication, which is why I always have to write things down, even if it's in a talky way. Language matters.
What makes Grand Valley faculty members special, and how do they inspire you?
I've been talking about the integration of binaries, and Grand Valley faculty members truly embody the integration of teaching with research, scholarship and creative activity, as well as the integration of service and leadership. Their North Star is student success, and they also care deeply about this community, by which I mean Grand Valley, Grand Rapids, West Michigan and global communities. That deep care for community, for connectedness, is a powerful stance.
How do the Academic Affairs Strategic Framework and the Reach Higher Together plan help Grand Valley meet the resource and enrollment challenges that all universities face?
Both of those plans were created through months of brainstorming, multiple conversations, feedback loops, writing and rewriting. So now we have a shared articulation of our purpose and our priorities, which gives us a very well-drawn map to guide us and ground us as we navigate the significant headwinds that are facing higher education right now.
Why Language Matters
STORY BY PEG WEST
Jennifer Drake, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs, joined Grand Valley in 2020 as dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences before her 2025 appointment to her current position. An English professor who regularly incorporates poetry into written and spoken messages to help convey her thoughts, Drake reflects on her tenets as a leader, the promise of a Grand Valley education and the importance of selecting the ideal words for communicating.
What makes a GVSU education distinctive in your view?
At Grand Valley, we have a long history of valuing liberal education, defined as honing one's ability to exercise freedom, to engage thoughtfully, to think independently, to seek understanding, to create new knowledge and systems and material objects, to make decisions, to take action. And, we have a long history of viewing liberal education and high-quality, experience-based professional preparation as integrated parts of our students' multifaceted learning journeys. At this inflection point for higher education, having clarity about that integration will guide us.
You are a poet at heart. How does that creative way of seeing the world show up in your decision making?
I talk a lot about the "both/and" in my decision making, and I think that interest in moving past binary thinking toward another way is grounded in the poet's interest in making meaning from seemingly disparate parts, thinking associatively through juxtaposition, creating metaphors and images to see things in new ways.
And when I'm faced with difficult decisions that require navigating constraints, I remind myself of the experience of writing a sonnet, a sestina, a villanelle, a renga, where the rules of the poetic form close off certain creative moves, but open up other moves that would otherwise not have been apparent. I appreciate that kind of surprise.
You were an English professor before moving to administration. How does that classroom experience inform the way you lead today?
I ran all my classes as seminars or workshops. So, as a community of listeners and learners, we paid close attention to the text at hand — novels, poems, stories, memoirs, essays, films, songs, photographs, paintings — to see how they were made, how they made meaning, how we made meaning in conversation about them. My classes always included a really diverse group of learners, and I worked hard to take an assets-based approach to meeting students where they were, and to create spaces of exchange and belonging that would help them grow as readers, writers and curious thinkers.
When I lead, I bring that same commitment to convening conversations, to listening, to seeking to understand the diversity of my community, to coming to new ways of seeing through making meaning together.
I'll also say that words matter deeply to me. Choosing the right words, putting them together in the right way, informs my approach to communication, which is why I always have to write things down, even if it's in a talky way. Language matters.
What makes Grand Valley faculty members special, and how do they inspire you?
I've been talking about the integration of binaries, and Grand Valley faculty members truly embody the integration of teaching with research, scholarship and creative activity, as well as the integration of service and leadership. Their North Star is student success, and they also care deeply about this community, by which I mean Grand Valley, Grand Rapids, West Michigan and global communities. That deep care for community, for connectedness, is a powerful stance.
How do the Academic Affairs Strategic Framework and the Reach Higher Together plan help Grand Valley meet the resource and enrollment challenges that all universities face?
Both of those plans were created through months of brainstorming, multiple conversations, feedback loops, writing and rewriting. So now we have a shared articulation of our purpose and our priorities, which gives us a very well-drawn map to guide us and ground us as we navigate the significant headwinds that are facing higher education right now.