Jessica Rowland Williams named director of Every Learner Everywhere

BOULDER, Colo. – Jessica Rowland Williams has been named director of Every Learner Everywhere (Every Learner), a network of 12 partners strengthening digital learning in postsecondary institutions. WCET (WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies) serves as the intermediary for Every Learner Everywhere.

“Every Learner Everywhere’s focus on using digital and adaptive learning technologies to improve collegiate outcomes for underserved students is a very important mission in today’s world,” said Russ Poulin, WICHE’s vice president of technology-enhanced education and executive director of WCET. “I’m confident Jessica Williams will be a great leader who will bring our Network partners together to achieve these goals.”

Every Learner Everywhere is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Williams joins Every Learner from Georgia State University, where she was the completion grant program director for University Innovation Alliance. She also worked as program director in Georgia State University’s Office of the Senior Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Success. Prior to those roles, Williams was a diversity fellow at Princeton University’s Office of Academic Affairs and Diversity, as well as program coordinator for the Princeton Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (PSURE). She holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. in Molecular Biology from Princeton University, and a B.S. in Biology from Spelman College.

“This is such an important time in higher education for adaptive and digital learning technologies and the collaborative work of Every Learner Everywhere is so inspiring and promising,” Williams said. “I am very excited to join the team to help accelerate this incredible work.”

Every Learner was created to bring together partners in order to accelerate change in the approach to digital learning at postsecondary institutions, with a particular focus on improved outcomes for vulnerable populations. The 12 Every Learner partners are Achieving the Dream, Association of Chief Academic Officers, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, Digital Learning Research Network, Digital Promise, EdSurge, EDUCAUSE, Intentional Futures, Online Learning Consortium, SXSW EDU, Tyton Partners, and WCET. As the intermediary, WCET supports the development of a healthy solution network, ongoing Network activity, key grantee collaborations, and is responsible for leadership and fiduciary management of the Network. WCET is a unit of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE).     

“Dr. Jessica Williams not only holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Princeton University, but she also has worked as part of the successful Georgia State University team focusing on student success,” said Laura Niesen de Abruna, provost of York College and representative of the Association of Chief Academic Officers in the Every Learner Network. “She is extraordinarily well prepared to assume the directorship of Every Learner Everywhere.”