RaJhai Spencer

RaJhai Spencer serves as an Assistant Dean of Administrative Advising & Director of First@ Colgate at Colgate University. Prior to joining the Colgate University staff in July 2020, she served as the Senior Associate Director of Florida State University’s Center for Academic Retention and Enhancement. She is dedicated to supporting students’ academic and personal success and through much of her career has worked closely with students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds, including first generation students and students with dependents. In her current role she also works closely with the Colgate Chapter of the QuestBride Scholars Network. Her relationships with and commitment to students is a source of pride and passion. RaJhai has held positions in FSU’s Advising First’s Center for College Life Coaching, as an academic advisor at the American University of Nigeria, and as a substitute teacher at Gates County High School in North Carolina where she taught English, Algebra and Advanced Placement Calculus. She also worked in residential life on the campus of Duke University with the Duke Talent Identification Program and on the campus of Meredith College with the Governor’s School of North Carolina. Rajhai received her Bachelor of Arts in African and African American studies and cultural anthropology with a minor in international comparative studies from Duke University (2008) and her Masters of Arts in sociology from the University of Illinois at Chicago. As an undergraduate, she worked as a student development representative with the Duke University Annual Fund and was a graduate research assistant and teaching assistant at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She currently resides in central New York with her husband and two children.