Jenny Thigpen, a long-standing member of Washington State University’s history faculty, has assumed the role of vice chancellor for academic affairs at WSU Global Campus.
“I am honored and excited to step into this new role and work with such an incredible team at Global Campus,” said Thigpen.
The vice chancellor’s responsibilities include leading Global Campus academic affairs and serving as a liaison to WSU faculty and academic units across the system. Additional duties include overseeing online programs, developing new academic offerings, and fostering academic excellence and innovation.
“My primary goal is to ensure that faculty, students, and staff have a positive experience teaching, learning, and working at Global Campus,” said Thigpen. “My immediate priority is to streamline processes to make them more faculty-friendly and to improve how we communicate with students.”
Thigpen will continue teaching Global Campus courses while serving as vice chancellor, an arrangement she believes will benefit both roles.
“I’m grateful to continue teaching for Global Campus as part of my duties,” she said. “I am passionate about teaching and working with Global Campus students. By continuing to teach, my experience and role as a faculty member will enable me to approach problem-solving from a faculty perspective.”
Thigpen joined WSU in 2008 as a faculty member in the Department of History. Her research has focused on U.S. women’s and gender history, with an emphasis on nineteenth-century Hawaiian Islands and the U.S. West. Over time, she has become increasingly involved in teaching courses online through WSU Global Campus. Her academic background and expertise in online pedagogy made her the ideal candidate to lead Global Campus academic affairs.
“As a faculty member, I have always appreciated the positive relationship I’ve had with Global Campus leadership and staff,” Thigpen said. “They’ve been consistently responsive to faculty needs, valued perspectives from academic departments, and provided outstanding support in creating engaging and rigorous courses. I look forward to continuing to foster these strong relationships in my new role.”
Along with fostering strong connections between WSU faculty and Global Campus, Thigpen is committed to advancing WSU’s online programs by building on their existing strengths and addressing areas for improvement.
“As part of the Global Campus team, I’ll focus on supporting student learning by continuing to foster excellence in instruction. We will continue to support faculty in using new teaching methods, creating engaging learning environments, and expanding our faculty development program,” she said.
Thigpen also plans to make online learning more accessible by addressing affordability.
“In this role, I’ll collaborate with Global Campus leadership to explore additional ways to reduce costs for course materials,” she said. “We want to make WSU Global Campus as accessible as possible for students seeking a flexible and rigorous higher education option.”
“Above all, I look forward to collaborating with the Global Campus team to achieve our shared goal of delivering an outstanding education to our students.”
