Albright College President, Jacquelyn S. Fetrow, Ph.D., Reading, Pa., has been named a member of Lehigh Valley Business magazine’s Power 30 list for Higher Education. Power 30 members hold positions that give them the ability to shape communities and influence quality of life through education.
Fetrow has served as the 15th president of Albright College since June 2017 and is the first Albright graduate to lead the college. She concurrently holds a faculty position as professor of chemistry and biochemistry.
“As chief executive, my duties are to engage with faculty, students, staff, administrators and alumni to accomplish Albright College’s strategic vision of educating students of academic promise for success in life and career,” said Fetrow. “The work includes effective communication, strong fundraising, business and financial management, and supporting faculty to develop innovative academic collectives.”
She credits three mentors for her success – her mother, Millie Fetrow, (Albright class of 1958), Albright professor Frieda Texter, and doctoral adviser George Rose. “All three were great teachers and all three cared enough to encourage me to be who and what I wanted to be,” said Fetrow.
Before assuming the presidency at Albright, Fetrow served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of Richmond. In this role she served as the university’s chief academic officer, with responsibilities that included oversight of the Richmond’s academic mission, tenure and promotion processes, and budget planning. Simultaneously, she held a faculty appointment as professor of chemistry.
Previously, Fetrow served as Dean and the Reynolds Professor of Computational Biophysics at Wake Forest University. Before that, she served as chief scientific officer and director of GeneFormatics, a biotechnology software company which she co-founded. As part of GeneFormatics’ executive management team, Fetrow played a key role in developing company strategy, raising more than $50 million in three funding rounds and building the 65-person organization. She also held faculty positions at the University of Albany and Scripps Research, in San Diego. Over her career, Fetrow has raised close to $5M to support her research program, is a co-inventor on five U.S. patents and has published over 90 scientific papers.
Fetrow currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in PA, as well as on the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities’ Committee on Accountability. She is a member of the Reading Hospital Board of Directors and a board member of Partners for Campus-Community Engagement. She also serves on the Board of Directors of Quantum Bio and is a member of the Center for Medical Innovation External Advisory Board at the Penn State College of Medicine.
Fetrow holds a doctorate in biological chemistry from Pennsylvania State University and a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry from Albright College. She is the recipient of several awards and honors, including teaching awards from University at Albany and Wake Forest University, as well as the Pennsylvania State University Alumni Fellow Award, Albright College’s Distinguished Alumna Award and Albright’s Young Alumna Achievement Award.
