Dr. Jill Cermele C’92
For nearly three decades, Professor Jill Cermele C’92 has helped Drew students develop the confidence to face difficult challenges. Her work explores trauma, resilience, and the skills that allow people to navigate conflict, adversity, and growth.
Nearly thirty years ago, Jill Cermele C’92, returned to Drew because of a phone call from her former undergraduate advisor. There was an opening in the Psychology department, and she applied immediately.
But in truth, she had never really left.
As a student at Drew, Cermele experienced the kind of mentorship that would later shape her own teaching philosophy. Professors challenged her, pushed her, and helped her see possibilities she had not yet imagined for herself.
Those experiences stayed with her as she pursued graduate study in clinical psychology at the University of Delaware. Her work focused on trauma and clinical practice, and she began her career at Drew as a full-time professor in 1997 while also maintaining a private therapy practice. For several years, she balanced both roles before stepping away from clinical work in 2002 to focus fully on her academic career.
Today, Cermele’s research and teaching explore how people develop resilience in the face of difficult experiences. Her courses examine stress, coping, and gender-based violence while also helping students build practical skills for navigating real-world challenges.
“My courses focus on transferable skills,” she explains. “Things like boundary setting, interpersonal communication, and conflict management. Those are skills students carry with them long after they leave Drew.”
This year, while on sabbatical, Cermele is serving as a Senior Faculty Fellow at Heterodox Academy, where she studies how students and faculty can develop the emotional regulation necessary to engage in meaningful disagreement and open inquiry.
At a time when public discourse often feels polarized, Cermele believes the ability to listen, challenge ideas, and engage respectfully across differences is essential.
“What energizes me in the classroom is helping students find their voices,” she says. “They learn to articulate their views while still remaining open to the ideas of others.”
Over the years, she has watched generations of Drew students grow through that process.
“They come in curious and motivated,” she says. “By the time they graduate, many are amazed at what they’ve accomplished.”
For Cermele, those moments of transformation are what define teaching.
One example comes from a self-defense course she developed for Drew students. The class focuses not only on physical techniques but also on building confidence, setting boundaries, and recognizing personal agency.
At the end of one semester, a student approached her with a reflection that has stayed with her ever since.
“Because of this class,” the student told her, “I know that I have the choice to say yes or no.”
Cermele pauses when she remembers the moment.
“Students have told me that course changed their lives.”
The program itself exists because of philanthropy. Former Drew President Thomas Kean established the endowment that enabled the course to become a lasting part of the Drew experience, ensuring that generation after generation of students would have access to it.
For Cermele, that generosity reflects something essential about Drew.
Donor support allows faculty to create programs that empower students in ways that extend far beyond the classroom. It allows students to explore difficult topics, develop resilience, and discover their own strength.
At Drew, those lessons are often just as important as the academic ones.
Students leave not only with knowledge, but with the confidence to face challenges and advocate for themselves and others.
Because sometimes the most important thing a student learns in college is not simply what to think.
It is discovering they are stronger than they imagined.
Experiences like these are made possible through the support of alumni and donors who believe in the power of a Drew education. As the fiscal year comes to a close, your support helps ensure that future students continue to discover their curiosity, confidence, and purpose at Drew.
