Jaime Lester

Jaime Lester, assistant professor of higher education, George Mason University, holds a Ph.D. and M.Ed. in higher education from the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California. Lester also holds a dual B.A. from the University of Michigan in English and women’s studies. Prior to George Mason University, she was an assistant professor and co-director of the Research Center for Community College Inquiry in the Department of Leadership and Counseling at Old Dominion University from 2006 to 2008. Lester maintains an active research agenda that examines gender equity in higher education, retention and transfer of community college students, socialization of women and minority faculty, and leadership. She has published articles in the Community College Journal of Research and Practice, Community College Review, Journal of Higher Education, Liberal Education, National Women’s Studies Association Journal, and NEA: Thought & Action. She also has two forthcoming books on gendered perspectives in community colleges and family-friendly policies in higher education. Currently, she is completing a project on nonpositional leadership and change in higher education.

In addition to her research, Lester has participated as a reviewer for several academic journals inside and outside higher education, including the National Women’s Studies Association Journal, Community College Review, Journal About Women in Higher Education, Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, and New Directions for Community Colleges. She also serves as a board member for the national association of the Council for the Study of Community Colleges, who granted her an award for her dissertation work.