Jeffrey R. Docking is president of

Adrian College Adrian College is a private liberal arts college in Adrian, Michigan. The college offers bachelor's degrees in 92 academic majors and programs. The 100 acre (0.40 km2) campus contains newly constructed facilities along with historic buildi ...

. He has held that position since 2005. He previously worked as a senior administrator and men's ice hockey coach at

Washington & Jefferson College Washington & Jefferson College (W&J College or W&J) is a private liberal arts college in Washington, Pennsylvania. The college traces its origin to three log cabin colleges in Washington County established by three Presbyterian missionaries to ...

Biography

Docking grew up in

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, including a portion of time beginning in 2nd grade when his family lived in the Michigan State University dormitories while his father completed doctoral studies. During that time, he became a fan of the

Michigan State Spartans men's ice hockey The Michigan State Spartans men's ice hockey team is the college ice hockey team that represents Michigan State University (MSU). The team plays at the Munn Ice Arena in East Lansing, Michigan, on the MSU campus. The current head coach is Adam Ni ...

and worked as a stick boy. Upon completion of his studies, Docking's father became deputy superintendent of the

East Lansing Public Schools East Lansing Public Schools is the school district for East Lansing, Michigan, USA. The district is governed by a seven-person Board of Education. Since 1973, the Board has included a student-elected, non-voting student representative from East ...

. Following undergraduate studies at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

, Docking worked for a short time as a reporter for WFSL-TV in

Lansing, Michigan Lansing () is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is mostly in Ingham County, although portions of the city extend west into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. The 2020 census placed the city's population at 112,644, making ...

, covering the

Michigan State Capitol The Michigan State Capitol is the building that houses the legislative branch of the government of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is in the portion of the state capital of Lansing which lies in Ingham County. The present structure, at the interse ...

. He left that position to attend Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, where he earned a

M.Div For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminary, seminarie ...

degree. He then attended

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

to earn a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in social ethics. To pay the bills during that time, he worked as a residence hall director for the Boston University dormitories. He and his wife Elizabeth have four children, two of whom were born during the 6 years that the family lived in the Boston University dormitories.

Washington & Jefferson College

During his career at

Washington, Pennsylvania Washington is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Pennsylvania. A part of the Greater Pittsburgh area in the southwestern part of the state, the city is home to Washington & Jefferson College and Pony League baseball. The populat ...

, Docking served as Dean of Students. President

Brian C. Mitchell Brian Christopher Mitchell (born 1953) is the president and managing principal of Academic Innovators. He is a nationally recognized expert on American higher education. Early life and education A native of Lowell, Massachusetts, Mitchell gradua ...

made him the vice president and special assistant to the president. In that position, he was a member of the "President's Cabinet" and was tasked with improving relations between the City of Washington and the college. He also served as coach of the Washington & Jefferson men's ice hockey team for a time, leading the program to replace the old Washington Park ice rink with a new facility that was supposed to have been supported by municipal bonds from the city of Washington. In 2004, he completed a fellowship at

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

where he shadowed president

Jared Cohon Jared Leigh Cohon (born October 7, 1947) served as the eighth president of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. he is a University Professor in the Carnegie Mellon College of Engineering. He holds a BS in Civ ...

for a year.

Adrian College

Docking became the 17th president of

in July 2005 He sought to improve the college's precarious financial situation by doubling the endowment. He proposed to improve the

town and gown Town and gown are two distinct communities of a university town; 'town' being the non-academic population and 'gown' metonymically being the university community, especially in ancient seats of learning such as Oxford, Cambridge, Durham, and St ...

relationship by holding a "coffee hour" with the president, developing classes for senior citizens, and encouraging student internships in the community. Early in his tenure, he introduced mandatory four-year residency for all students "to raise funds," a marked departure from previous policies.''The College World'', Vol. 122, Issue 13.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Docking, Jeffrey Living people Michigan State University alumni People from Ingham County, Michigan Garrett–Evangelical Theological Seminary alumni Boston University alumni American television journalists Washington & Jefferson Presidents coaches College men's ice hockey coaches in the United States 1961 births American male journalists