Valerie White followed an extensive career as a Vice President at U.S. Bancorp with a new career in higher education. At Lewis & Clark College she taught graduate courses on cultural perspectives in helping professions and served as Associate Dean in the Graduate School of Education and Counseling for several years. She has also taught about race and ethnicity, and organizational development at other universities, including annually for seventeen years in northern France. Since 2008 she has been the Ombudsperson at Lewis & Clark. As such she works with faculty, students, and staff on complex issues of fairness and challenges they face. In 2014 she received the Peter Small Award, honored by her professional association as the outstanding ombudsperson of the year.
Since 1993 Valerie has also been an organization and personal effectiveness consultant based in Portland. Using a whole systems perspective, she specializes in addressing issues of strategic change and renewal in complex settings, and in cultural perspectives and diversity. Public service has been an important part of her life. Following board member terms with the Urban League of Portland and Oregon Environmental Council, she completed a four-year gubernatorial appointment to the Tri-County Transportation District (Tri-Met) Board of Directors. Valerie achieved Candidate status on a PhD in Cultural Perspectives at the University of Washington. She also has an MA in Whole Systems Design, and a Certificate of Competence in Organization Systems Renewal from Antioch University Seattle, and a BA in Sociology from Whitman College.