Dr. Carjamin Tan-Walton Scott (’07)

Dr. Carjie Scott began her Lasallian journey in high school, graduating from De La Salle Institute in Chicago. She arrived in Memphis in 2003 to attend CBU, where she was a student worker in Admissions to encourage other graduates to come to CBU and graduated in 2007 with BA in English for Corporate Communications and Management.

She continued her education at Webster University, at the Memphis Navy satellite campus earning an MA in Management and Leadership, and obtained her EdD from Lipscomb University in Nashville. Carjie has spent most of her career in higher education, beginning at trade schools such as Vatterott Career College and ITT Technical Institute, and then working in admissions at Vanderbilt University and now at Tennessee State University — and throughout she has advocated for underrepresented minorities, particularly Black students.

This advocacy and commitment also spurred Carjie to start her own business, Education Equalizers, LLC, which serves as a consulting firm to college students and higher education institutions alike, helping to assure universal access to quality education and partnering with Equity Alliance, the Sunday School Publishing Board, Benevolence First, Fresh Start Family Services, HBCU Hub, Vanderbilt University, and others. While working with the Equity Alliance, a voting rights organization, she led the Black Citizenship in Action program which taught students their rights as African American citizens, encouraged them to vote, and hold government officials accountable.

She has also authored a book entitled You are Accepted: How to Get Accepted into College and Life, which tells her own (sometimes painful) story and how her faith helped her to grow her resilience while advocating for change at the collegiate level for first-generation students and encouraging these students to own their own story and believe in God’s plans for their lives. She has recently curated an online event with the Vanderbilt Divinity School Public Theology and Racial Justice Collaborative entitled “Racism is a Public Health Issue Wreaking Havoc on Minorities” to create a “mobile institute” on how to combat racism and inequality in the Gainesville, FL community, where she currently lives. Vanderbilt University also awarded her the Karen Dolan Spirit Award, which is given to an employee who exemplifies the message of community building, colleague respect, and leadership.