The Academic Designer

Hi there! I’m Jennifer van Alstyne. It’s nice to meet you! I’m happy you found this website.

Jennifer van Alstyne, MA, MFA helps professors feel confident when sharing your research, teaching, and leadership online. She empowers academics to have an online presence, to tell your research story through her company, The Academic Designer LLC. Since 2018, she’s worked with faculty 1-on-1 on professor website design, social media for academics, and done-for-you bio writing.

Jennifer is a Peruvian-American poet. She knows words have the power to change our lives. The words you share about your research, about your science, about the teaching you care about? They matter. You have opportunity to touch more people when you’re open to sharing them online.

She hosts The Social Academic podcast where Jennifer interviews professors and people who help academics about what it’s like to have a digital footprint in Higher Education. When you have a stronger online presence, you help more people with the hard work you do, the things you already value in your academic life. There are 100+ resources to help you create your legacy online on The Social Academic blog.

Jennifer van Alstyne is a founding member of the Association of Higher Education Consultants and Coaches (AHECC). She’s member of the #HigherEdSocial Association. She was previously on the planning committee for the Graduate School Success Summit, created for scholars of color new to grad school. She served on the steering committee for the All Day All Night conference for digital communicators in education.

Jennifer lives in Oceanside, California with her husband, Matthew and her two cats, Bartlet and Ash. She has a BA in English from Monmouth University, an MFA in Writing & Poetics from the Jack Kerouac School, and an MA in English from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

Connect with her on social media @HigherEdPR / @JenVanAlstyne