Jenny Poole is a Senior Policy Associate with the Competencies & Credentials team, focused on dramatically expanding the use of competencies and non-degree credentials within learning and talent management systems to increase economic mobility for low-wage workers and close racial disparity gaps.
Jenny has over 12 years of experience managing large, complex projects, including professional development programs for non-profit organizations like the American Institutes for Research (AIR), the University of Virginia, the U.S. Green Building Council, and the American Institute for Architects.
Before joining CSW, Jenny was a postsecondary and workforce development researcher with the American Institutes for Research (AIR), an international behavioral and social science organization. She designed and led qualitative studies of transfer and career pathways, academic advising, adults returning to college, and collective impact in education for major organizations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Institute for Educational Sciences, and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. During this time, Jenny served as the lead qualitative researcher for a study of the 6-year, $80M Gates Foundation Frontier Set initiative, which engaged 29 colleges to transform to improve equitable student success and outcomes. Jenny also led a small team to recruit and conduct 59 focus groups with academic administrators, completing two Institute for Educational Sciences (IES) studies: one on academic advising and one on institutional efforts to support adults returning to college.
At the University of Virginia, Jenny spent six years supporting the Office of the Executive Vice President & Provost to design, deliver, and evaluate ~30 faculty development and diversity programs, including the university’s 2-day new faculty orientation and the university’s summer institute on anti-racist pedagogy for college students. She also taught undergraduate and graduate students about career pathways, consulted with university administrative leaders on change management for university faculty policies, and facilitated violence and harassment prevention workshops for faculty, staff, and students. Jenny also co-authored a book chapter titled “Beyond Title IX: Pursuing Full Participation through Plan, Do Study Act (PDSA).”
Jenny received her Ph.D. and master’s degree in higher education from the University of Virginia’s School of Education & Human Development and her bachelor’s degree in Government from the University of Virginia.