Jonathan B. Williams is the newly appointed VP and Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Pomona College. He has over 30 years of professional experience in the field of college access and success. He works with and leads teams who shepherd students and their families through the complexities of the post-secondary admissions and financial aid processes. A proven leader in college admissions and enrollment management across various institutions, Jonathan has particular expertise with creating pathways to mainstream opportunities for under-resourced youth and adult populations. Through such organizations as Reach for College! and Heads Up of Washington, D.C., as well as college admissions offices at Oberlin College, the University of Pennsylvania and Dartmouth College, Jonathan has helped thousands of young people and their families along myriad educational journeys.
Jonathan joined the admissions office at New York University in the summer of 2016 as Associate Dean and Director of Undergraduate Admissions. After two years, he was promoted to Assistant Vice President of Undergraduate Admissions. Under his leadership, the enrolled student body was the most diverse and academically talented one in the history of the university, and applications increased by 97%. Jonathan developed the Pre-College Access and Pathways division at New York University. Through that work, each year upwards of 5,000 students participate in NYU pre-college programs that foster a college-going culture in communities nationwide. Just before leaving NYU, Jonathan and his team ushered in a class of more students who identified NYU as their first-choice school than any other independent school in the history of American higher education.
Jonathan's career also includes work with community-based volunteer management. He had a discretionary appointment at The Corporation for National and Community Service, a federal agency that provides individual educational grants in exchange for long term volunteering and service. Under his strategic leadership, the Corporation experienced record-breaking gains in volunteer and donor participation in high profile programs such as the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, AmeriCorps Week, the AmeriCorps Diversity Recruitment Program and the Corporate Pro Bono Summit.