Executive Team - Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

Jessica J. Jones, Ph.D., CDE® is the Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging where she is responsible for providing vision, support, and leadership to promote and sustain equity, achieve diversity, and advance an inclusive environment and culture of belonging for individuals in the agency as well as within the communities served. Dr. Jones has over a decade of experience in higher education with emphasis on teaching and learning strategies, leadership development, strategic planning, increasing access and equity, and multicultural education.

Prior to this role, Dr. Jones served as the Director of Student Success (which included Disability Services, Developmental Education, Tutoring, Career Exploration, and First-Year Advising), Title IX Coordinator, and Affirmative Action/Equal Employment Opportunity Officer at Louisiana State University at Eunice. 

She also served as a member of the Chancellor’s Cabinet and chaired the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, which functioned as an advisory council to the chancellor. She began her career in higher education as a Senior Instructor of English at University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where she obtained national Quality Matters® certification in online teaching and online course design. Dr. Jones is a graduate of the American Association of Blacks in Higher Education’s Leadership and Mentoring Institute and the American Association of University Women’s Social Change Ambassadors Institute. She obtained additional certifications as a Title IX Coordinator from the National Association of College and University Attorneys, LSU’s LGBTQ+ Safe Space Train the Trainer, the University of South Florida’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace program, and the Certified Diversity Executive® program from the Institute for Diversity Certification. She currently serves as a board member for CASA St. Landry-Evangeline. Dr. Jones received her bachelor’s in English from Louisiana State University, her master’s in English from the University of Tennessee, and her Ph.D. in higher education administration from the University of Phoenix.