Jennifer Cole

Jennifer Gilligan Cole (Jen) is the Jordan Schnitzer Dean of Pacific Northwest College of Art at Willamette University in Portland, Oregon. Prior to her appointment as Dean, she was the Chief of Staff at the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University the largest comprehensive art and design college in the U.S. While there, founded The National Collaborative for Creative Work — an applied research center focused on artist/culture work and social change in America. Cole served nearly a decade as Nashville, Tennessee’s chief cultural officer working with the mayors, elected officials, artists, cultural organizations to explore how arts and cultural participation were central to community prosperity. While there she led national models in equitable creative placemaking, public funding and policy for the arts. She is a thought leader in cultural policy and planning, artist economies and urban arts ecosystems and has held board and advisory positions with Americans for the Arts, IL Arts Alliance, Western State Arts Federation (Creative West), ArtPlace America, Creative Capital, Grantmakers in the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. Cole is the co-founder of the Cultural Policy Action Lab, a national community of practice program for public sector workers who seek to advance racial equity through arts, culture and public policy. She holds a B.A. with honors, in English from the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, VA.