Sanjana Priyonti, Junior Editor
When you first meet Jennifer Cooley – though she insists you call her Jenny – you quickly get the sense that she’s equal parts outdoors explorer, museum nerd, and lifelong liberal arts fan.
Sewanee’s new Dean of the College arrived on the Mountain July 1 with a sense of curiosity, and a goal to get to know the campus and its people. That’s meant hikes to Green’s View, The Cross, Natural Bridge, and her current favorite overlook, Morgan’s Steep, as well as waterfall walks and weekend adventures to nearby towns. “I brought my dog with me, so a lot of this exploration has happened with her. She’s in dog heaven.”
Cooley grew up near Madison, Wisconsin, where much of her childhood was spent outdoors. She started college at Lawrence University. “I quickly discovered that I didn’t like being locked in a practice room,” she laughed.
She switched to philosophy but kept taking Spanish, eventually graduating with a double major. “That’s the beauty of a liberal arts education. You don’t really have this push to focus so narrowly on just one discipline. You’re actually encouraged to problem-solve using multiple perspectives. And I think that really serves people well.”
Her undergrad years also took her abroad —first to London, where she admits she “perfected her English,” and then to Spain. London is where she became a museum devotee. “There are so many museums and beautiful gardens… I loved it, even though the same street would change names about five times!” After graduate school, she built her career at the University of Northern Iowa, raising her children there with her spouse. Now that her kids are in college, she’s excited to return to the kind of small, close-knit college environment she values so much.
Cooley is candid about not wanting to arrive with a pre-packaged vision for Sewanee. “It’s not really my place just arriving here to impose my vision,” she said. Instead, she has been dropping into department meetings, asking questions, and listening.
One project she is particularly enthusiastic about is Sewanee +100, a mapping initiative that will highlight all the academic, creative, and community-engaged work that impacts the region within a 100-mile radius of campus, from small towns and natural systems to cities like Nashville, Huntsville, and Chattanooga. “I think this could be incredibly useful when we think about where we’re going next,” she said. “And if it looks really good, well, then we’ll reveal it publicly.”
Of course, she knows she’s arriving at a complicated moment. Budget constraints and restructuring of DEI and related offices are very much on people’s minds. Cooley doesn’t shy away from acknowledging the anxiety. “Whenever people are presented with change, there’s always the potential that there will be negative impacts,” she said. “What I hear most is concern about students. All of the faculty I have talked to want to make sure students continue to feel included and supported.” As for Sewanee’s donor-driven budget model, she admitted it’s still “very mysterious” to her, but added that Sewanee’s real wealth lies elsewhere: “So much of what we do is based on human connections. Those are impervious to budgetary challenges.”
She’s already been impressed by the students she’s met. At the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship or SURF Summer Research Frenzy, she was blown away by the quality of the presentations. “I was super impressed with the level of research—especially considering how short a time people had been working on it. And then to come up with polished, thought-provoking presentations? Amazing.”
She is looking for ways to improvise opportunities like SURF and programs that will be offered to different disciplines, enhancing the academic and scholarly experience even further. It was also her first time seeing the academic gowns. “What impressed me was how it makes you focus more on not a person’s physical appearance, but on their intellectual prowess. I really felt that sense in the room.”
Though administration takes up most of her time, she’s eager to get back into the classroom eventually. Over her career she has taught 26 different courses, ranging from medieval Spanish to immigration issues. She said she’d love to teach on immigration here. “But honestly, I also love teaching basic Spanish—when students come in with limited proficiency and by the end of the semester they’re having conversations, that’s really exciting.”
What’s surprised her most about the transition is how quickly Sewanee has felt like home. “I’ve lived in several different places, but I’ve never felt so at home so quickly as I do here,” she said. The Mountain’s beauty and Sewanee’s welcoming community have made all the difference. Coming from Wisconsin, she’s also bracing herself for a different kind of winter. “Where I grew up, winter is very long, cold, hard… kind of ugly, honestly. I have a feeling winter is going to be a lot more tolerable here. Ask me again in January.”
For now, Cooley is enjoying the hikes, the conversations, and the new role she’s stepped into. “It’s just been a really easy place to get used to,” she smiled. “I’m getting ready for fall to do the real hikes because I don’t want to interact with any snakes. “
With her mix of warmth, curiosity, and humor, Sewanee seems to be finding it just as easy to get used to her. Don’t fret, you might just as well stumble into her at Morgan’s Steep, engaging in yet another delightful conversation as the sun slowly sinks beyond the horizon.