Along with many new students starting at Mercer this fall, there is a new Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs starting, too. Dr. James H. Whitney III comes to Mercer from Rutgers University where he has most recently served as Assistant Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Inclusion and Community Engagement.
Dr. Whitney says, “I firmly believe in educational equity by meeting people where they are and that everybody deserves a fighting chance.”
Dr. Whitney’s vision for his work is grounded in his own experiences growing up.
“My mom ended up passing away when I was 11 years old. My father had bouts with alcohol and drug addiction. So my oldest sister ended up raising me. She was young, raising the young,” Dr. Whitney says.
By the time he was at Ocean Township High School he was working three jobs, moving from apartment to apartment, all while being raised by his sister.
Dr. Whitney says, “My journey was: how do I change my adversity and triumph into reality?”
Using this mantra Dr. Whitney went on to be more academically focused, eventually leading him to college. Taking the little he had, he went to the Rutgers Summer Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) Program.
EOF is a statewide program that provides financial assistance and support services to students coming from economically and academically disadvantaged backgrounds.
“By the time I came to EOF I learned that this was the type of program that I want to be a part of,” says Dr. Whitney. “I knew since that day I made it my business to be in programs and to be in an educational journey to help people, ones that look like me, that had my own story.”
At that time, Dr. Carol Bork, who is now an English Professor at MCCC, was one of the academic coordinators for the EOF Program that Dr. Whitney was a part of.
“He came to talk to me about the work he would be doing in that program. After that meeting, this is what I said to one of my colleagues: ‘I don’t know what this young man is going to do, but I think he is going to do something remarkable,’” says Dr. Bork.
Later, during his time at Rutgers, Dr. Whitney became a student of Dr. Bork’s and left an even more lasting impression.
She says, “It is the most gratifying experience a professor can have to see a former student who is now a successful professional. I am delighted that my former student is now my colleague.”
Dr. Whitney went on to attain his Bachelor of Science In Administration of Justice & Africana Studies and then held a series of jobs at Rutgers working up from a position in residential life all the way to becoming an Assistant Vice Chancellor.
Dr. Whitney says he was drawn to the job at Mercer because the college “[is] intimate, but it’s growing. I want to now use what I have learned while at Rutgers, to use those skills and experiences here, and add to the improvement of the experiences of students and academics how I can.”
The Vice President of Academic Affairs that Dr. Whitney will be assisting is Dr. Robert Schreyer who says, “I’m very excited about his vast knowledge base within higher education and his student, faculty, and staff-centric mindset. He’s truly demonstrating the goal of collaboration and bringing people together so that we can all work towards the common goal of student success.”
Dr. Whitney comes to Mercer at a time when the college has put renewed focus on issues of equity and diversity.
Dr. Andrea Lynch, Professor of Business and Chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee at the college says, “I expect that the longer that Dr. Whitney is here, the more impact he is going to have to make sure that the more marginalized voices get brought to the forefront.”
College President Dr. Jianping Wang says, “After a very comprehensive campus-wide visit, and interviews with multiple constituents, Dr. Whitney was the candidate.”
President Wang gives an example of how attentive Dr. Whitney was to a few lost students on campus and how quick he was to aid them.
“Just from those things I think he is a great addition to the college,” she says.
Explaining his overall view of his job Dr. Whitney says, “Part of what needs to come across is that it doesn’t matter if you’re the administrator, you’re faculty, or staff member, we are one community and I’m going to reach right back and I’ll do what I can to give who I am to the community.”
