Jennifer Anderson
Jennifer Anderson is the new Director of Library for Services at Northern Wyoming Community College District/Sheridan College. She comes to the college from Sheridan Junior High School, where she was the Library Media Specialist for three years.
Jennifer has a BA in Agriculture Education from Montana State University and an MLIS from Indiana University. She spent more than 10 years working in non-traditional youth development as a 4-H Youth Educator for Colorado State University and later for the University of Wyoming as the Coordinator of 4-H Afterschool Programs in Sublette County. She and her family moved to Muscat, Oman in 2015 for four years, where she spent two years working as a primary school librarian while she worked on her master’s degree. Their return to the U.S. eventually brought them home to Wyoming.
She sees the Sheridan College Community as very welcoming and supportive — a great teamwork environment helping students, staff and faculty succeed. She was drawn to the position because she loves to learn and wants to support others on their pathway to furthering their education.
“I like to be challenged,” Jennifer said, “and I’m excited to work with faculty and with students to support learning, while also encouraging an atmosphere of belonging in the library and on the college campus. I’m thrilled to interact with a variety of people at different ages and stages of life and with a variety of backgrounds.”
She’s looking forward to the challenges of working with young adults and returning learners instead of K-12 students and of charting a strong path for the library’s future. “Strengthening our commitment to being a cohesive student support center with tutoring, testing, writing center, and reference center will be a priority for this first year as we rebuild staff and do some long-range planning for the physical space and special collections. As Sheridan College and Gillette College split, it’s vital that we keep student needs and learning at the forefront. The split brings a lot of unique challenges to undertake, especially in my first year at the college, but we have a great team and we’ll continue to serve the students.”
She said she and her husband are happy to be settled back in Wyoming with their kids, who both attend Sheridan High School. “‘Great things never came from comfort zones’ has become my motto. I’ve learned to never say no — I said that once about living in the Middle East and it turned out to be one of the most impactful events in my life!”