Alumna Dr. Lisa Cooper Wilkins (Ed.D., Higher Education Administration) was profiled in the article, "Champion of the Student Underdog: The Life and Times of Dr. Lisa Cooper Wilkins," in The Guardsman, City College of San Francisco's student-run newspaper.
Dr. Cooper Wilkins has been Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs at City College since 2020, where she oversees Enrollment Services, Outreach and Community Partnerships, Student Success, Engagement, Wellness and Student Equity programs. A Guardsman reporter sat down with her for an in-depth conversation about how she came to be where she is today and how she continues to strive to uphold her values for the campus community.
The article details struggles that Dr. Wilkins faced throughout her childhood, but more importantly how she overcame every obstacle through hard work and dedication. You'll learn how her academic trajectory led her to where she is today as a higher education leader. Although Wilkins did not live out her mother’s dream of becoming a doctor in the medical field, she completed her doctoral studies at the George Washington University in Higher Education Administration. Her dissertation was entitled “Disability as Diversity: Assessing the Perceptions of Students with Physical Disabilities Regarding Access and Equal Opportunity in Postsecondary Education.”
Per the article, she described her department as having a “co-curricular relationship” to academic affairs due to the learning experience inside and outside the classroom. “The services we offer all have a role to play in helping the student develop while they are here. I talk about our work being a whole-person endeavor because there are multiple aspects to yourself, and many of the things we offer help develop the student’s many facets.” Wilkins mentioned that when speaking to student affairs professionals in her department, she stresses the importance of understanding student’s developmental process. “By knowing the things that often cause students to leave college, you can back-engineer an environment that includes the things that they need support with,” she explained.