Commendation in Honor of Dr. Jennifer Summit, SF State Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs

Dr. Jennifer Summit has been an active member of the San Francisco State University (SF State) community for eight years since her multiple appointments as Dean of Undergraduate Studies in 2014, as Interim Provost in 2016, and as University Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs in 2018; and

Jennifer Summit completed her B.A. in English from Vassar College that included a yearlong study abroad at University College, London, and both her M.A. and Ph.D. in English from Johns Hopkins University; and

A widely-published scholar of medieval and early modern English Literature, Dr. Summit has received major fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, and the Modern Language Association for her work on the histories of literacy and texts, religion, literature and periodization; and

Before joining SF State, Dr. Summit was a professor of English at Stanford University from 1995 – 2013 and served in multiple leadership roles, including chair of the English Department, co-founder and director of the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, chair of the Committee for the Review of the Undergraduate Major, and chair of the University Writing and Oral Communication Requirements Revision as part of the Study of Undergraduate Education at Stanford (SUES) Committee; and

In 2012-13, Dr. Summit served as an American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow at San Jose State University (SJSU), where she led the Provost's Task Force on Student Engagement and co-developed and launched the “Preparing Future Professors” program, which places Stanford Ph.D. students with faculty mentors from public comprehensive and community colleges; and

Dr. Summit joined SF State in 2014 as Dean of Undergraduate Studies, an office that was reorganized under her leadership into the Division of Undergraduate Education and Academic Planning (DUEAP). From 2014-16, she led efforts to strengthen academic program review and assessment, improve first-year students’ experience, expand the Metro College Success Program, and develop and launch the University’s student success plan under the Chancellor’s Graduation Initiative 2025. With support from the Teagle Foundation, she served as PI for a university-wide initiative in faculty-led curriculum redesign in the majors, which engaged 20 departments across multiple colleges; she also secured funding from the Keck Foundation to redesign lower-division coursework to advance student success; and

In the University Provost’s role since 2016 (first as Interim), Provost Summit has supported the creation of the Center for Equity and Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CEETL), improvements in course availability and course scheduling, initiatives to strengthen diversity and equity in faculty hiring and professional development, and efforts to improve transparency and stability in the Academic Affairs’ budget; and

Provost Summit led the transition from the 6th to the 7th cycle of academic program review, organizing and leading the development of undergraduate standards, and drafting the 7th cycle Handbook; and

Provost Summit has supervised the hiring of over 178 faculty at SF State (including faculty who have been successful in their teaching, research, and service contributions to the campus, community and profession) as well as the able oversight of innovative programs and services that have led to the academic success of our students; and

Provost Summit has served with honor and distinction as an effective member of the SF State Academic Senate for 8 appointed terms from Fall 2014 through Spring 2022, including her important participation on the Executive Committee (EXCOMM), Academic Policies Committee (APC) and other standing committees; and