Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs and Chief Innovation and Resource Officer, Jason Powell, is marking his 25th year of working with Ferrum College. He enjoys working here, from meeting with people to enjoying a nice cup of coffee.
Some may not know Powell and his role here, but he plays a key part when it comes to running the school.
“Most of my children think all I do is drink coffee and go to lunch,” he joked.
His role as the Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs comes with plenty of work.
“I support the provost, who is over all academics and student success and in those responsibilities,” he explained. “I supervise the Registrar’s Office and institutional resource who does all the data analysis and gets it out to different offices and reports externally.”
Powell also serves as the college’s Institutional Accreditation Liaison to its accrediting body, SACSCOC.
“So, every 10 years, we’re on a cycle; we have to submit a whole lot of paperwork to them, so I am the person responsible for those communication streams each year.”
As for the Chief Innovation and Resource Officer side of his job, Powell shared that’s when he gets to do the fun stuff.
Powell helps develop new academic programs that meet student interests as well as meeting with people outside of the college to forge partnerships. This year, Powell is also teaching analytical chemistry but spends more time in his administrative role.
Senior Hannah Wray shared insight of what it’s like to have Powell as a professor.
“Dr. Jason Powell is a great professor. He has an in-depth knowledge about this course and is an efficient and insightful professor. I always feel as though I can ask Dr. Powell for help in his class and make sure I have clarification on assignments or information presented in class,” said Wray.
She also said that he is considerate students’ abilities when learning new information.
“He has patience with us while we are figuring out our challenges with the course, while making sure we are focused on our work and getting things done, Dr. Powell also allows us to joke around and have a good time with one another.”
Powell takes on challenges that he faces, from contacting organizations to organize conferences, to helping connect outside people to things inside the college.
Outside of Ferrum, Powell and his wife, Jenny, raise seven children and are actively involved with their church, Franklin Heights.
“I also coach two recreational soccer teams for three of the children and stay involved with different things,” he said.
Junior Danielle Willburn’s son was a member of one of Powell’s teams.
“Coach Powell has a real gift for connecting with kids and keeping them excited about the game,” she said. “It takes a special kind of patience and skill to keep a group of young players focused, and the team’s improvement in such a short time really showed his leadership and coaching ability.”
From meetings and academic research, Powell’s work continues to help Ferrum College grow more each day,’ with one meeting, research, and coffee at a time.
