The first Higher Edification stepped in to share some great perspectives about the profound impact that higher education has on personal leadership. Dr. James K. Winfield is a student access and success leader who champions first-generation college students.
Having been a first-gen student himself, James shares his higher education empowerment story. A current university administrator, he also talks about the importance of students having support in higher education, the growth that he seen from students on his journey, and how higher education can connect better with communities.
More About James…
James serves as the Associate dean for first year experience, general education and retention strategies at Southern New Hampshire University’s Global Campus. His portfolio includes the implementation of holistic strategies and programs to improve the communication, orientation and retention efforts for first-year students along with developing policies and processes that support the general education experience of global campus students. James, a proud first-gen student, advocate and researcher, has a multitude of administrative and teaching experiences at various institutions, including colleges that are flagship, land-grant, private, HBCUs, and online education.
James has been actively involved with NASPA, and First-gen Forward, serving on the Forward Thinkers Group and is a founding member and past co-chair for the Black First-gen Collective. He has extensive experience in TRIO Programs, first-year programs, specifically orientation and first-year seminars - teaching, designing curriculum, and leading faculty development. He has launched and managed early alert systems, peer mentoring, and tutoring programs. James’s dissertation focused on the career self-efficacy and academic major decisions of low-income first-generation college students in a TRIO SSS program. He earned his Ed.D. in curriculum and instruction from the University of South Carolina, an M.Ed. in higher education administration, and his B.A. in mass communication from Auburn University. James is also a pop culture enthusiast and consistently writes about college and first-gen narratives in TV and film.
