Ashley Offutt

Ms. Offutt serves as the Director for the Student Opportunities and Achievement Resources (SOAR) Program at Virginia Tech. In this role, she will continue to build on the coordination, and support for marginalized and underrepresented and underserved populations. An important of this role is the deepening of the partnerships with Enrollment Management, Financial Aid, Undergraduate Academic Affairs, and Student Affairs.  

As a first-generation college student from Louisville, Kentucky, she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Communications, with a minor in African and African American Studies, and a Master of Arts in Student Personnel Services in Higher Education. Ms. Offutt believes that when your passion and your purpose come together, we can all win. Also, as supporters of intentional cultural change, we must create those opportunities for the students that we serve. Ashley’s continued work serves the particular focus of the retention of underserved students, faculty, and staff.

Offutt has served as a compassionate and motivated diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) leader with extensive experience in student advocacy, safeguarding culture, and finding opportunities to build relationships with advocacy groups to drive educational, and cultural, diversity. Her dedication, and commitment, to the success of organizational environments, with an emphasis on communication, has allowed for her growth connected to partnerships in Higher Education.