Meet Your Vice President
COLETTE COLEMAN, ED.D.
Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students
University Student Center Suite 204
Phone: 202-994-6555
Email: vpsa
gwu [dot] edu
Request a Meeting: vpsaschedulegwu [dot] edu (vpsaschedule[at]gwu[dot]edu)
Colette Coleman, Ed.D. serves as Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students at the George Washington University, a leading research institution in the nation's capital. With nearly two decades of progressive experience in higher education, she is a dynamic leader dedicated to fostering student belonging and creating transformative campus experiences.
VP Coleman holds a master's degree in business and a doctorate in human and organizational learning, both from GW. She brings a strategic, analytical approach to her work, emphasizing creative solutions and a belief in the power of cross-functional teams to advance institutional goals.
Throughout her career, VP Coleman has been a champion of collaboration and inclusion, with a proven track record of leading teams to deliver impactful outcomes, including reimagining student engagement strategies, streamlining operations, and cultivating leadership development programs to empower students and staff alike.
She oversees a broad portfolio within the Division for Student Affairs, spanning interfaith and spiritual life; campus housing; involvement and leadership; health, wellbeing, and recreation; conduct; dining; orientation and class year programs; family engagement; and student support. In her role, she aligns institutional priorities with a student-centered approach, ensuring every student has the resources and opportunities needed to thrive.
Her dissertation, A Seat at the Table Is Not Enough: The Socialization of Black Women Leaders into the Higher Education Cabinet, examines what happens to Black women executives after they arrive in spaces never designed with them in mind. Her research doesn't sit on a shelf, it shapes how she leads, hires, and builds teams, and it manifests in how she thinks about what institutions owe the people inside them.
VP Coleman is an active contributor to national conversations on higher education, regularly presenting at conferences on topics including executive leadership, change resilience, crisis management, and team dynamics.
Her work is grounded in the belief that student affairs professionals play a pivotal role in shaping future leaders and that purposeful, inclusive, collaborative leadership drives institutional excellence. At the core of that work is a simple conviction: the university's truest measure isn't what happens in the classroom, it's whether every student who walks through the door feels like they belong.
