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Biography

As the Assistant Director for PLC, Jessie Kasynski administers all student involvement in the program, from their first days going through the application process, to their enrollment in all PRLC courses over four years, the allocation of scholarships, completing their Leadership Studies Minor, and finally, to their last day with PLC at the year-end celebration.  Jessie also serves as a program advisor for the PLC student population and has recently been certified as a career development facilitator. She helps students wrestle with choosing and switching majors, finding and applying for internships, and choosing a career path upon leaving CU. Jessie is the inter-campus liaison with multiple departments, staff, and faculty - primarily the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarship Services, the Office of the Registrar, and the Leadership Minor at the School of Education. As of September 2022, Jessie also serves as the Community Coordinator for CU Center for Leadership. She has been with the Presidents Leadership Class since July 2010, staying with the program as it transitioned from a non-profit to an official university program in July of 2012. In 2019-20, Jessie was awarded as one of the Chancellor's Employees of the Year because of her work with PLC. Jessie is an adjunct instructor for an experiential education course for student athletes, in efforts to combine the leadership development efforts of PLC and athletics. Most recently, Jessie served as an acting director for the program from October 2022-September 2023. She facilitated the student created rebranding of the program - redefining leadership, the program values, and tag line: Presidents Leadership Class | Where Leaders Emerge.

Jessie is a native of Boulder and graduated from the University of Colorado in 2001 with a B.A. in Geography, specializing in cartography.  She earned an M.A. in secondary curriculum and instruction in 2006 and taught geography at East High School in Denver, CO.  After teaching, Jessie returned to cartography as a full-time cartographer/GIS technician.  Before coming to PLC, she contributed to freelance mapping projects for the NSIDC (National Snow and Ice Data Center) and CIRES (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences), and a local textbook company.  Jessie recently completed a post-graduate certificate in Leadership and Management and and an MS in Organizational Leadership.