GW is rife with change. Over the past summer, the Division of Student Affairs (DSA) was reorganized under the new Enrollment and Student Experience (ESE) unit. The Presidential Fellowship now falls under the Center for Career Services Interdisciplinary Career Services Initiatives. We are pleased to welcome two Advising Team members this year!
Marva Gumbs Jennings MA’ 83 GSEHD returns to the Presidential Fellowship program in the role of Program Director. Marva has been at GW since 1984 and served previously in the early years of the PAF program to build the program and support PAF cohorts. She has held several leadership positions at the career center and currently serves as the managing director for strategic and interdisciplinary career services initiatives. In this role, she oversees two fellowship programs and works extensively to enhance the career development and employer network experience for student veterans, students with disabilities and seasoned alumni. As program director, Marva is pleased to be working with the Presidential Fellowship program to build on its significant history in the life of GW and support the program as it continues to evolve. Professionally Marva finds great joy in helping students and alumni discover and uncover their career strengths, and determine their professional direction and personally, Marva loves to travel and is passionate about helping the next generation find their calling to ‘serve’.
Rachel A. Brown is the Associate Vice Provost for University Career Services and joins the Presidential Fellowship as the administrative advisor to the program. Rachel joined GW in 2013 after holding various career services leadership roles at Temple University, the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, Georgetown University, University of Pennsylvania and Stanford University. She also has corporate experience and received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Bucknell University and a Master of Arts in Student Personnel Services from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Rachel provides strategic leadership and direction for the university's Center for Career Services and facilitates collaboration among other career services centers at the university to ensure high-quality services to, and engagement of, all relevant stakeholders including undergraduate and graduate students, employers and other community partners, alumni, parents and university leadership, staff, and faculty. As the program’s administrative advisor, Rachel looks forward to working more closely with the presidential fellows to support the President's strategic initiatives and enhance the new Enrollment and the Student Experience unit. Rachel’s strengths are Connectedness, Positivity, Arranger, Responsibility and Adaptability and she shares ‘my favorite way to start my day is exchanging a gratitude list with my dad who is 86 years young and I try to carry the spirit of positivity and gratitude throughout the day’.
The Presidential Fellowship family also is indebted to Robert Snyder for the many hours that he invested in the program to grow its success. Under Robert’s leadership, the Presidential Fellowship pillars were developed. He expanded the program’s professional development curriculum, increased Presidential Fellowship alumni engagement, and advocated for service opportunities. Robert’s contributions will have a positive, lasting effect on the legacy of the program.