Office Hours with John Gardner
We are searching for big ideas that inspire hope and action in higher education around institutional transformation and innovation to advance student success and more equitable student outcomes. Joining John Gardner are higher education leaders and other relevant persons of interest who will discuss innovation and strategies that improve higher education.The Gardner Institute, a 24-year-old non-profit, has been at the forefront of innovation in higher education; our mission very clearly connects us to the broader societal efforts to increase social justice.The Gardner Institute connects with thousands of professionals in the higher education ecosystem; through a wide array of activities such as Transformative Conversations, the Teaching and Learning Academy, and the Socially Just Design Series, and through our work as an Intermediary for Scale supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. As a leader in the student success movement in higher education, we strive to provide support for institutions interested in social justice and institutional transformation.
Office Hours with John Gardner
Episode 88- Farrah Ward The Heart of Innovation
Farrah Jackson Ward, Ph.D. is the Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Professor of Mathematics at Elizabeth City State University (ECSU). She received her B.S. in mathematics education from North Carolina A&T State University and MS and PhD degrees in mathematics from North Carolina State University. Dr. Ward holds a post graduate Certificate in Academic Leadership from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology and is a graduate of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities’ Millennium Leadership Initiative. She taught at the University of North Carolina Wilmington before joining the faculty at ECSU in 2007. Dr. Ward was appointed Chair of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science and served in that role for 6 years before being named Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs in 2016. She served as interim Provost from 2018 – 2019 and was appointed Provost in 2019.
Under the leadership of Dr. Ward, ECSU ranked in the top ten nationally for graduating the largest number of African Americans with undergraduate degrees in mathematics. ECSU was also ranked under her leadership as the #1 institution in the nation for graduating the largest number of African Americans with master’s degrees in mathematics. Her expertise in addressing educational barriers for STEM undergraduate and graduate students led to the successful acquisition of more than $5 million in external funding from the National Science Foundation and Department of Education. She has created several initiatives aimed at improving student success including the implementation of EAB’s Navigate, a restructuring of ECSU’s academic advising services, and a campus-wide reduction in the number of credits required for graduation from an average of 128 credits to 120 credits. In partnership with the John Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Studies, Dr. Ward led the Foundations of Excellence (FoE) project which created a comprehensive plan targeting improvements to the first-year experience. She is strategic in developing programs to enhance student success and because of her leadership as Provost, ECSU has experienced a 5.6% increase in freshman retention and a 21% increase in enrollment.
Dr. Ward is widely recognized for her work in student success and higher education administration and has been invited as a featured speaker by a variety of organizations such as the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE), AASCU, Interfolio, and EAB.