Adina Chapman, PhD, has led an impressive career in higher education. She is the North American regional higher education manager at the University of Cambridge. In her position, Dr. Chapman manages a team of five people who work with public and private colleges and universities to assist Cambridge K-12 students worldwide in obtaining credits toward the general education program.
About Dr. Chapman
Dr. Chapman attributes her success to the opportunities and support she received early in her life. Teachers in her elementary school greatly impacted her, and she appreciates everything they did for her. Even as a child, Dr. Chapman knew she had opportunities other people in her neighborhood never received. She credits the influence of her teachers to her success and believes she wouldn’t be in the position she is now to help others without them.
Another significant opportunity in Dr. Chapman’s life was her admission to Berea College in Kentucky. The college is for low-income, primarily first-generation students and has a large minority population in the student body. Dr. Chapman is proud to have started her academic career at Berea College, the first integrated college after the American Civil War.
“My alma mater stands out as an exemplary model. A place that Northern philanthropists paid to establish the college to improve the lives of individuals in the South who were underrepresented. They first brought in African Americans, and later, at the turn of the 19th Century, they brought in women to the colleges and gave them the opportunity to become teachers and pursue liberal education to learn and grow, both professionally and personally. I always say without Berea College, I would not be where I am today,” Dr. Chapman says.
Dr. Chapman received a Bachelor of Arts in history from Berea College in 1999. She received a Master of Science in higher education in 2001 and a Doctor of Philosophy in higher education in 2005 from the University of Kentucky.
A Global Mindset
Dr. Chapman never intentionally aspired to be a leader, but she has been acknowledged as an authority in her field by her peers and others on the global stage. Recently, the British government paid for her to attend a global leadership conference in Thailand because they wanted her to have a voice at the event. Dr. Chapman and her team focus on the global mindset, recognizing that the United States is a melting pot and that countries must work together.
“It’s important to understand that it’s our diversity that makes us stronger, that we’re all human, and the same thing that impacts me may also impact a student in China. What do we have that is similar and different? What does it mean to operate in a global environment? How do we interact with people from other cultures and other countries? It sounds to me that this is not a new concept, yet it’s amazing when you get down to the granular level of education and how it’s still very much needed, and it’s not prevalent in a lot of American education,” Dr. Chapman explains.
Dr. Chapman recognizes the importance of including people from diverse backgrounds because of her life experience and this knowledge has made her a leader in the discussion on how to address the global education mindset. She plans to continue to utilize her experience with Cambridge to complete her vision of bringing quality education to all students.
