Tressa Jones

Ms. Tressa Jones Beverly is our newly appointed Assistant Director for the Office of Multicultural Programs and Title IX Coordinator. Prior to joining Valparaiso University, Ms. Jones worked for more than two decades at Chicago State University where she served as Director of the Gwendolyn Brooks Center for Black Literature and Creative Writing. She has extensive experience with program development, project management, budgets, and grant writing and in working with students, faculty and the general public which helped elevate the Center’s position within the national and international literary community. As Center Director, she was responsible for the Gwendolyn Brooks Black Writers’ Conference, a biennial literary event which brings together writers, scholars, students and thinkers. In recent years, through her efforts, the Conference has gained international attention with participants coming from countries such as the UK, the Philippines, India, and Botswana, among others.

Ms. Jones is passionately committed to developing strong and resilient community culture by promoting diversity and inclusion through creative and transformational educational programming, outreach and other initiatives. 

Ms. Jones holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration and Healthcare Management from the University of Phoenix, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Robert Morris University.