Jen Schoepke

Dr. Jen S. Schoepke is the Director of Forward Madison (FM), a partnership between UW–Madison School of Education and the Madison Metropolitan School District, and serves as a boundary crosser to leverage resources in both partner organizations in service of the partnership. The FM partnership is a collective human capital strategy aimed at building a high-quality and diverse educator workforce by supporting and retaining high-quality educators, with the ultimate goal of significantly narrowing opportunity gaps and improving student achievement. Prior to this role, Dr. Schoepke was the Director of Strategic Diversity Planning, Research, and Communication in the College of Letters & Science Center for Academic Excellence (CAE). In her role at CAE, Dr. Schoepke facilitated the continued development of CAE’s strategic framework, assessment, and communication strategies, and research to advance CAE’s mission of supporting student success for students who have been historically underrepresented in higher education (first-generation, students of color, and students from low-income backgrounds). Dr. Schoepke previously worked the University of Wisconsin System Administration on diversity and equity capacity-building and policy work across all two and four year public higher educational institutions in Wisconsin. She has a doctoral degree from UW-Madison in Industrial and Systems Engineering and has researched the impact of race and whiteness on issues of equity in higher education through a systems lens. She received her master’s from UW–Madison in Manufacturing Systems Engineering and her undergraduate from UW-Eau Claire in physics/mathematics secondary education.