Senior Executive for Planning and Presidential Operations
Jay Braatz joined DePaul in 2004 as senior executive for Presidential Operations. As the president's chief of staff, she provides advice and counsel to the president and assists him in advancing university goals. Serving as a member of the president's executive staff, she works in conjunction with the President's Cabinet to offer strategic resolutions to university challenges. She also provides administrative support to the president by managing the support staff responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Office of the President. She serves as a liaison between the president and internal and external constituents, acting on behalf of the president as needed. In this capacity, she also supervises the Office of Community, Government and International Affairs.
Braatz brings to the newly created position approximately thirty years of experience in education in both formal and informal settings. Drawn to DePaul's mission of making education accessible, she is committed to helping assure the university's successful realization of its strategic plan. She has focused her energies on helping extend the reach and impact of the Office of the President, making sure that the office is responsive to the internal university community as well as a variety of external constituents.
Prior to joining DePaul, she served as a senior program officer at the Spencer Foundation, a Chicago foundation that has provided over $250 million in fellowships and research grants related to improving education and educational opportunities throughout the world. Her portfolio at Spencer included all of the foundation's fellowship programs as well as the small grants program. She was responsible for over $6 million in grants annually, managing and evaluating programs designed to support the professional development of the next generation of educational researchers.
She also spent 15 years working for Outward Bound, a national non-profit educational organization that offers adventure-based, experiential education programs that help students develop personally and professionally, inspiring them to serve others and care for the world around them. Part of a management team that brought Outward Bound into the Boston public schools, Braatz developed, directed and led a number of programs for urban youth. She also established an alternative college semester program focused on environmental education and service learning for students at risk of dropping out of college. While at Outward Bound, her responsibilities also included strategic planning and development.
Braatz received her bachelor's degree in art history from Smith College in 1975. She was awarded her master's degree and doctorate in administration, planning and social policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1999, writing her dissertation on the role of education on women's subsequent success in the labor market. She attended Bryn Mawr's HERS Institute for Women in Higher Education in 2005.