Jill Stratton, Ph.D.
Dr. Jill Stratton is the assistant provost for academic support and community engagement at Vanderbilt University. With nearly 30 years of experience in higher education, she has invested a great deal of time and energy in researching joy, college student development, strengths-based leadership, and the concept of creative flow and has presented extensively at professional conferences, school districts, college campuses, non-profits, and community agencies.
Through opportunities to connect personally and professionally with scholars, writers, teachers, and artists on these topics, she is firmly convinced that the more time spent exploring joy and sadness and how to hold both, the more effective people will be in their lives and future careers. At Washington University in St. Louis where she spent 27 years, Jill developed courses on the psychology of young adulthood and leaders in context and affectionately became known by the students as the Dean of Joy.
At Vanderbilt University, she holds a teaching appointment in the Human Organizational and Development department in the Peabody School of Education and serves on the senior leadership team in the Office for Undergraduate Education. Jill oversees the Writing Studio and Tutoring Services, the English Language Center, and is the university’s liaison to ROTC. She collaborates closely with many university areas including Athletics, Government and Community Relations, and the Vanderbilt Center for Languages. Jill lives on campus and hosts numerous programs including the Thrive Dinner Series, Facul-TEA, and Joy Gelato for students, faculty, staff, and community members.
Jill grew up in Mayfield, Kentucky and earned her B.A. in Psychology at Transylvania University where she served as a Residential Advisor. She holds graduate degrees from Indiana University and Union Institute & University and is a trained life coach. Jill loves to travel, eat ice cream, and spend time with her family especially her nieces and nephew who bring her so much joy! Her favorite movie is Inside Out.