Biography

Dr. Jason L. Meriwether is an experienced strategy partnery and consultant in enrollment management and higher education leader with research interests in hazing prevention, enrollment management, student retention, digital learning tools, adult student success, and social media engagement. In 2016, Jason was named to the Southern Indiana Business Source 20 under 40 Class of 2016. In 2014, Jason was selected to Louisville Business First’s Top Forty under 40 and as one of Business First's 20 People to Know in Education and Workforce Development. In 2014, Jason received the award of Outstanding Kentuckian and was commissioned to the Honorable Order of Kentucky Colonels. Jason is editor of Dismantling Hazing in Greek-Letter Organizations: Effective Practices for Prevention, Response, and Campus Engagement. Jason is also a consultant and professional hazing prevention speaker for Greek University.

Since 2004, Jason has provided leadership on college campuses for Enrollment Management, Academic Support, NCAA & NAIA Athletics, TRIO programs, and Student Affairs. Jason has served in executive leadership in enrollment management at public and private universities, where he has led initiatives and implemented collaborative strategy levers that yielded improved retention and graduation rates and increased new student enrollment. Jason has published on topics such as adult learning, student retention, digital learning and engagement, student affairs fundraising, and hazing prevention. Jason has taught graduate courses at the University of Louisville's College of Education and Human Development. He has also served as a guest lecturer for graduate courses at Vanderbilt University, The University of Maine, Louisiana State University, The Pennsylvania State University, Tennessee State University, Bellarmine University, and Eastern Illinois University. Jason believes that success in student affairs and enrollment management lies in the ability to adapt to new trends in technology and digital engagement, while staying committed to advocacy for learning through collaboration with faculty and academic leaders.

Jason has presented at numerous national and regional conferences on topics such as legal issues & liability, retention & persistence, student retention, education & economics, assessment, strategic planning, professionalism & career trajectory, social media, and hazing. Jason’s national presentations on legal issues related to hazing have been the subject of cover stories in the Student Affairs Today Newsletter and in College Athletics and the Law. Jason was a Higher Education & Social Media contributor for Socialnomics.net and has been a guest blogger for the NASPA Technology Knowledge Community Blog and for the Student Affairs Collective. Jason is also contributing author of What Happens on Campus Stays on YouTube, published in 2015.

Jason served the American College Personnel Association as a member of the Presidential Task Force on Digital Technology in Student Affairs and the Directorate for the Commission for Student Conduct and Legal Issues. A current and active member of NASPA - Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, Jason served on the Program Committee for the 2015 NASPA Assessment & Persistence Conference.  A former junior basketball coach for Youth Incorporated and the YMCA, Jason has also been an assistant flag football coach for the YMCA and an assistant baseball coach for the New Albany Little League in Indiana. Jason has overseen the completion of over 18,000 documented community service hours by Greek Letter Organizations during his career and is a financially active member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated.

A native of Guthrie, Ky., Jason earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Communication from the University of Louisville. He earned the Master of Arts Degree in Psychology from Fisk University, and was selected for the inaugural Academic Leadership Academy at The Pennsylvania State University Center for the Study of Higher Education, which he completed in 2011, earning a certificate. Jason earned the Ph.D. in Educational Administration with a Specialization in Higher Education Leadership from Indiana State University. His dissertation was titled, The Impact of Hazing Rituals on the Intent to Report: Examining the Perceptions and Beliefs of Undergraduate Students in Greek Letter Organizations.

Jason currently serves Campbellsville University, a private, four-year Christian University with a population of 11,000 undergraduate, certificate, and graduate students, as Vice President of Enrollment Management. Prior to coming returning to his home state of Kentucky, Jason served Humboldt State University as Vice President of Enrollment Management. Previously, Jason was the Vice President for Student Success at Rhode Island College and served as Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management & Student Affairs at Indiana University Southeast, which was named one of the "Most Promising Places to Work in Student Affairs" by Diverse Issues in Higher Education in 2015, 2016, and 2017. Jason is also the former Vice President of Student Engagement and Enrollment Management at Fisk University where he also served as Dean of Student Engagement and Adjunct Professor of Psychology. Jason's fiduciary experience includes serving on non-profit boards and national higher education association boards, including his recent service as an Advisory Board member for InsideTrack, a member of the nonprofit Strada Education Network, from 2017 until 2020. From 2020 until 2022, Jason has served as a member of the Police Chief's Advisory Board for the city of Eureka, California.