LEWISBURG, Pa. — Vernese Edghill-Walden, Ph.D., graduated from Bucknell University in 1987. Last Year, after 36 years, she returned to her alma mater in Union County to lead the newly created office of Equity and Inclusive Excellence, an unexpected career move.
"Not in my wildest dreams," Edghill-Walden said. "I knew that I wanted to do this work when I was a student here. I knew I wanted to work in higher ed, but the thought of coming back to do the work that I learned to love at Bucknell, to do it as a professional here is something I never imagined."
She believes her time at Bucknell prepared her for this role. It's where she fell in love with advocating for others and not being afraid to use her voice.
"When I was a student here, I did a lot of advocacy, a lot of work to make visible more of the diversity that was here and the kinds of things that Bucknell needed to do to support students and faculty and staff."
Edghill-Walden says in the late 1980s, there was little diversity among Bucknell students, faculty, and staff.
"We only had one black faculty member and maybe two black administrators," she recalled.
Wanting to change that, she spent a summer visiting other universities to collect information for a research paper that would lay out what she thought Bucknell needed to support its minority students.
"I presented that paper to President Sojka and a trustee. And as a result, President Sojka agreed to open up a multicultural center. So that happened when I was a senior, and it came directly out of protest and advocacy as a student, but moreso out of the research paper I was able to write as a junior."
That paper, which she still has, combined with student-led protests on campus, was the beginning of a relationship with then-Bucknell President Gary Sojka, a relationship that has lasted for decades.
"It was not just the research. It was a kind of commitment. There was no question if you were dealing with Vernese, she had marked out her turf. She took her stance, and she knew where it ought to be at that time," Sojka said.
Sojka says Edghill-Walden's work as a student and more than 30 years of experience in higher education made her the perfect choice to lead the Office of Equity and Inclusion.
"It's not that we hired an alumna. It's that she described a way for the institution to create a program—not just a position, but a program—in which she is clearly the best person to operate it," Sojka said.
"I definitely understand what the students need and what they say that they want," Edghill-Walden said. "I can relate to it in a way that I probably have not at other institutions."
And while she's proud of the university's progress since she graduated, she remains hopeful for what's to come even beyond her role.
"It's not just me. I always say that equity is everyone's work," Edghill-Walden added. "So how do we make sure that we're changing the climate to make sure that there is a sense of belonging and inclusion on campus?"
Vernese Edghill-Walden remains an advocate for equity, for inclusion, and for Bucknell University.