Georgette DeVeres, CMC's associate vice president for admission and director of financial aid, has been elected chair of The College Board's board of trustees, and named to the College Scholarship Service (CSS) Hall of Fame.
"Georgette has a knack for inspiring confidence in the people around her, as well as an ability to bring out the best in those who work with her," says Richard Vos, vice president and dean of admission and financial aid.
"All of the College Board Trustees have enormous respect for Georgette," says Linda Clement, vice president for student affairs at the University of Maryland and past College Board chair. "She brings to the task tremendous experience, an outstanding level of commitment to students and their families, and an understanding of complex political issues," Clement says. "I think she will be a great leader for The College Board."
She will lead the organization's board at a critical juncture in its history, as its newly structured SAT is rolled out across the nation. With the addition of the essay-writing section to the formerly two-part SAT, says DeVeres, The College Board expects to help America's high school students head for college better prepared for the writing challenges they'll face as undergraduates. Unlike college application essays written at home, which may receive editing from parents or other adults, the new SAT essay section gives colleges a better sense of each student's writing ability and college readiness, DeVeres says.
Critics of the new essay section are concerned, she says, that it may disadvantage some college applicants, particularly those for whom English is a second language or those whose secondary education didn't require extensive writing skills development. "To address those issues," DeVeres said, "the College Board has sponsored a pilot program in Florida and New Yorkwhat we call our springboard' initiativeto support writing skill-building efforts from the sixth grade on. We are well positioned to launch the same sort of effort nationally."
U.S. students graduating from high school in 2006 will be the first to take the new SAT, including the essay section, when they sit for the SAT in spring 2005.
DeVeres, who has served The College Board for the past 10 years in a number of leadership roles, has been on the organization's board of trustees for the past four years. DeVeres has also served in numerous leadership capacities in other higher educational state, regional, and national associations.
DeVeres joined the CMC admission staff in 1983 as director of financial aid, after completing undergraduate studies at California State University, Northridge, where she worked as a student assistant in the student aid accounting office. Born in Columbus, Ohio, DeVereswho still calls herself a Buckeyegrew up in Los Angeles and attended Hamilton High School.
"We're proud," Vos added, "that one of CMC's own will be leading The College Board's trustees. Her election as its chairperson, and her selection to the College Scholarship Service's Hall of Fame, aren't just an honor for Georgette. Her work also gives CMC, a relatively young institution, an opportunity to become better known, and to gain some well-deserved attention in the American community of higher education."