James Soemijantoro Wilson
Has been an educator since 2004, in the roles of:
Director of Faculty Development at Fordham University, fostering and promoting the research and scholarship of faculty from all nine schools and twenty-seven disciplines represented at the University.
Founding Director of the Corporate Work Study Program at East Harlem’s Cristo Rey New York High School (CRNYHS), which is a critical component of the school’s college-prep education as well as the means by which the economically challenged students it serves earn the majority of the school’s operating budget to make that education possible. Subsequent to launching CRNYHS, James joined the Cristo Rey Network’s national headquarters in Chicago to work with its schools and Corporate Work Study Programs nationwide, including feasibility studies and future school and program launches.
Educational specialist for students with addictive behavior disorders at Newport Academy, providing multi- and interdisciplinary education to keep students on track with traditional academic subjects while also maintaining curricular components focused on raising self-esteem, improving executive function, establishing mutually supportive relationships, and developing skills for leading a healthy, happy life. James launched the Academy’s Darien, CT educational program, where this curriculum was created and implemented.
Developing curriculum for students at Newport Academy and Cristo Rey high schools nationwide, for faculty education and training at Fordham University, and in conjunction with The Asia Society under grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Cultivating national strategic partners for the college success organization iMentor, which leverages broader community involvement through long-term one-on-one mentoring relationships to develop first-generation-to-college, low-income students’ durable skills.
A little bit more about him
Prior to his career in education, James was an attorney with the international law firm of White & Case and before that a federal and state-funded acupuncturist and herbalist for Boston's AIDS Care Project (Massachusetts Board of Medicine certified). His earliest career was in music and he continues to perform, having done so over the years for live radio broadcasts, numerous churches, at universities and such museums as The Smithsonian and Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. James is a doctoral candidate in Learning Design and Leadership at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, earned his JD/MSFS at Georgetown University, a graduate diploma in Oriental Medicine from New England School of Acupuncture (now a division of Massachusetts College of Pharmacy), and his Bachelor of Music from Berklee College of Music in Boston.
James is currently a Senior Director at College Board, collaborating with state departments of education across the country regarding their assessment and accountability efforts to support their students’ college and career aspirations.
He is married (over thirty years!) with a son in college who studied this curriculum as a grade schooler during COVID and is now more of a Renaissance man than he is.