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CSU President Zaldwaynaka Scott joins JB Pritzker Educational Success Committee

Committee will support and advise Governor-elect
on K-12 and higher education policy areas

Illinois Governor-elect J.B. Pritz- ker has named Chicago State University President Zaldwaynaka (“Z”) Scott to the transition’s Educational Success Committee, introducing the committee earlier today at a press conference held at Genevieve Melody STEM Elementary School. The Committee was established to provide guidance on K-12 and higher education policies and issues for the incoming Pritzker- Stratton administration.

“I am honored and inspired to serve as a member of the Governor-elect’s Educational Success Committee,” said Zaldwaynaka Scott, President of Chicago State University. “I am committed to the success of Illinois’ youth and working with the Committee to provide solutions that will address the inequities of access to a quality public education.”

Consisting of 35 members, the Committee is one of several transition working groups made up of subject- matter experts to support and advise the Governor-elect including co-chair and CSU alumna, Dr. Janice Jackson, CEO of Chicago Public Schools.

“Every child in this state deserves a quality education, regardless of the color of their skin, the zip code they come from, or the income of their parents,” said J.B. Pritzker, Governor-elect of Illinois. “The transition’s Educational Success Committee will confront the challenges students, parents, and teachers face head on and with fierce urgency. If we want to put Springfield back on the side of working families, we must give every student the opportunities they deserve.”

Zaldwaynaka Scott was unanimously voted by the Chicago State University Board of Trust- ees’ to serve as the 12th permanent president of Chicago State University and assumed the role on July 1, 2018. Under President Scott’s leadership, CSU has a renewed focus on growing student enrollment, building the school’s regional and national reputation for scholarship and academic research, improving the resources and opportunities available to the student body, and increasing alumni and community engagement. As a distinguished business and civic leader, President Scott has played an influential role in the Chicago community for 30 years. Currently, President Scott serves on the Board of Directors for the Ann & Robert

  1. Lurie Children’s Hospital Medical Center, where she co-chairs the board’s subcommittee on diversity. And she is also a board member of Just the Beginning, an organization devoted to improving diversity in the legal field. President Scott is also the former Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Chicago Housing Authority, the nation’s third largest housing authority. Prior to her role as President, Scott spent more than 16 years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Illinois where she served as Chief of the General Crimes Section. She also served as Illinois’ first Executive Inspector General for the Agencies of the Governor and Public Universities.

Scott will assume the role as a member of the transition’s Educational Success Committee effective immediately.

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