UTICA — After an extensive search, Mohawk Valley Community College appointed Jessica Wilkie as dean of its School of Humanities. Her appointment was confirmed by the MVCC Board of Trustees. 

As dean, Wilkie will be responsible for setting the standard for intellectual engagement, academic integrity, and accomplishment by providing strategic vision and operational leadership for MVCC’s School of Humanities, the announcement said, adding she also will provide innovative and visionary leadership in the development of a strategic plan for her academic school that aligns with the college’s strategic plan.

Wilkie will also provide inclusive and collegial leadership to support the needs of faculty, staff, and students, according to the college.

Wilkie joins MVCC from the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science, where she was assistant director of undergraduate advising. She also has held positions as director of guided pathways for the Community College of Rhode Island and a guided pathways coach for the State University of New York. As such, she led Monroe Community College in SUNY’s first guided pathways implementation and was MVCC’s first guided pathways coach, also serving as a keynote speaker at the college’s 2017 fall opening.

Wilkie has 24 years of teaching experience, including middle and high school English Language Arts, and college-level composition, literature, humanities, film studies, and women’s studies.

Wilkie has received many honors in recognition of her work, including the John & Suanne Roueche Excellence Award, League for Innovation in the Community College in 2018; the award for The Most Notable Contribution to An Assessment Project by A Faculty Assessment Leader, Monroe Community College in 2015; and the College Assessment and Program Evaluation Committee (CAPE) Award for Innovation in Assessment, Monroe Community College in 2015.

Wilkie has a master’s degree in interdisciplinary humanities from the University of Buffalo and a bachelor’s degree in English literature, secondary education, and women’s studies from Nazareth College in Rochester.

Wilkie lives in Camillus, with her wife, Pauline, and has five sons.