Shaya Gregory Poku is vice president for community, culture, and belonging. She leads institutional efforts to strengthen the Emerson experience and advance the College’s values of creativity, innovation, inclusion, curiosity, equity, expression, and collaboration. She oversees the division of community, culture, and belonging, which engages with both internal Emerson and neighborhood communities. Gregory Poku collaborates closely with faculty, staff, and students, as well as the President, vice presidents, deans, the Board of Trustees, and local leaders on values-related matters. Her role involves strategic leadership and guiding culture change.
Gregory Poku’s professional experience spans the nonprofit and higher education sectors, domestically and internationally. She has been quoted in U.S. News & World Report, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Inside Higher Ed.
Gregory Poku is a certified mediator through the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School, and she holds interdisciplinary degrees that provide her with a uniquely complex lens on organizational development. She has an MA in intercultural relations with a concentration in intercultural conflict management from Lesley University, an MS in security and resilience studies from Northeastern University, and a BA in international relations from Agnes Scott College.
A proud California native, Gregory Poku believes in facilitative leadership that is human-centered and impact-driven.