DR. MARIA A. LUMPKIN

Dr. Maria Arvelo Lumpkin was appointed Interim Vice President for Student Affairs at Metropolitan State College on August 1, 2016. She will oversee a broad range of programs and services that promote academic success, leadership experiences, and personal development for all students. The departments under her auspices will include Admissions & Enrollment Services, Student Outreach & Access, Financial Aid, Counseling & Disability Services, Career Development, Student Activities, Veteran’s Outreach and Judicial Affairs.

Dr. Lumpkin believes in the transformative power of education as the single most important achievement that can change the trajectory of one’s life. Her abiding philosophy is embedded in the belief that education is “the great equalizer” that gives all students a pipeline to a promising future. She brings to bear extensive experience in all aspects of programming and resources supporting the development of students and has served in a variety of capacities in Higher Education.

Prior to coming to her appointment at Atlanta Metropolitan State College, she was the inaugural director of Student Involvement and the Student Center and co-director of the Global Civic Engagement Program at Gwinnett College (GGC). She formerly served as the assistant dean of students and director of the Alfonso Elder Student Union at Central University, Director of Student Life & Engagement at Spelman College for Women, Assistant Director of the Mercer University Center for Community Development and Service Learning and has worked in city and county government in progressive roles in housing, community and economic development. She has developed several transformative programs including the Social Justice Living and Learning Community and Student Affairs Global Experience (SAGE) at Spelman, which was featured the 2007 BET documentary, Spelman Spring Break Diaries. This was a memoir of her travels with students from Morehouse and Spelman College to work with the Women’s Health Education and Prevention Strategies Alliance’s 10,000 Girls Program in , West . (Founder, Dr. Viola Vaughn was a 2008 recipient of the CNN Heroes Award). In addition, she established the President’s Task Force on Civic Engagement and procured over $1.5 million grants from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Coca-Cola, Target Foundation, Perkins Ponder Foundation, and the Federal Home Loan Bank to pilot and support several University-community partnership programs at Mercer University. In her roles in community and economic development she has managed over $6.8 million dollars in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOPE VI and Corporation for National and Community Service funds to transform communities. In her most recent role, she has established the campus’ first Common Reading Initiative, the Grizzly Growl Lecture Series and Volunteer GGC – a community service, volunteerism and service learning entity that provides expanded opportunities for service and community engagement and an integrated academic experience for students.

She has been active on the Bibb County Workforce Investment Board, Goodwill Industries of Central Georgia Good Vocations Board, and the Food Bank of Middle Georgia boards. She currently serves on the international board of Africa’s Children’s Fund, and as a member of the Clark Atlanta University Guild. She is a member of the Metro-Atlanta Magnolia Chapter of the Links Incorporated, a 2004 graduate of Leadership Macon, a 2006 Leadership Georgia, a 2015 graduate of Leadership America, a 2010 graduate of the Links Incorporated Scott-Hawkins Leadership Institute and a 2016 graduate of the Alice Manicur Symposium. She also served as Professional Development Chair of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) African-American Knowledge Community from 2012-2014 and 2015 Program Chair for the Southern Area of the Links, Incorporated.

A native of Columbia, South Carolina, she received a Baccalaureate degree, cum laude from Saint Augustine’s College in Raleigh, North Carolina, the alma mater of her Sheroe, Dr. Anna Julia Cooper, the third African American woman in this country to earn a PhD; a Master of Urban Studies degree from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, ; and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy from Clark Atlanta University. Her dissertation research project was entitled Is There Learning in Service Learning? An Examination of the Effectiveness of Service Learning Programs at HBCU’s as Perceived by Undergraduate Students. She holds certifications as a Case Teaching instructor by the Institute for Case Teaching at the Harvard University’s School of Divinity. Most recently she published an article entitled Embracing Diversity: Beyond, Food, Fashion and Music, in the National Association of Campus Activities Programming Magazine and was featured for her work with Student Center design in the Association for Campus Unions International (ACUI) publication Volume 84/ Issue 4 of The Bulletin July, 2016. A seasoned world traveler, Dr. Lumpkin has traveled to nearly every continent, except Antarctica for humanitarian and educational purposes. In 2008, she and her husband led a delegation of ninety three students from the Atlanta University Students to Egypt. She was a 2016 Who’s Who in Black Atlanta honoree and received a prestigious commendation from her Alma Mater, Saint Augustine’s University at the 2016 Stone of Hope Gala as a 45 under 45 honoree.