Jenny Penney Oliver, who served for the past 20 years as a faculty member in the department of counseling and human development services the University of Georgia, died last month after battling lung cancer. She was 58 years old.
Dr. Oliver held bachelor’s and master’s degrees from North Carolina State University in Raleigh. She worked in the Office of Judicial Programs at the University of Georgia from 1983 to 1986. She then earned a Ph.D. in counselor education and educational psychology at Kansas State University. After completing her doctorate, she returned to the University of Georgia in 1990 as the assistant to the dean of the College of Education. In this position, Dr. Oliver was the driving force behind efforts to support diversity, inclusion, and social justice.
Earlier this year, the University of Georgia’s College of Education’s Diversity Award was renamed the Jenny Penney Oliver Diversity Award, and she was its first recipient.