Jan Barker-Alexander Wins 2021 Kenneth M. Cuthbertson Award

Jan Barker-Alexander, assistant vice provost for inclusion and community, and executive director of the Centers for Equity, Community and Leadership, and the Offices of First Generation and/or Low-Income Programs and for Military-Affiliated Communities, was honored “for her empathy, love and tireless devotion to advocacy for Black, underserved and historically marginalized students and community members.”

Barker-Alexander, who is the resident fellow (RF) of Ujamaa House, was commended for her transformational leadership of the undergraduate residence, which focuses on the histories, issues and cultures of the Black diaspora. In Fall 2020, the Ujamaa RF position became the first-ever endowed position in residential education and was named in her honor.

She was also honored “for her visionary work in establishing important programs to promote diversity, including revamping the Ernest Houston Johnson Scholars Program, which is named after the first Black student to graduate from Stanford in the pioneer Class of 1895. The program exposes first-year students to research opportunities, faculty-led projects and guidance on the professoriate as a career option, with the ultimate goal of building the pipeline to academia.

Barker-Alexander was also commended “for supporting students in their principled activism.”