Jenny Irons

William T. Grant Foundation

Jenny Irons is a Senior Program Officer at the William T. Grant Foundation, where she directs the Institutional Challenge Grant program and the major grants funding initiative that supports studies to reduce inequality among youth. She serves on the Foundation’s senior program team, which sets program directions, develops new initiatives, and reviews grants. 

Before joining the Foundation, Jenny directed student leadership and engagement programs at Tulane University’s Newcomb College Institute. Prior to that, she worked in evaluation research as a consultant for the Greater New Orleans Foundation and as a senior research analyst for The Policy & Research Group in New Orleans. She was also an Associate Professor of Sociology at Hamilton College, where her research and teaching focused on race, gender, and social movements. 

She has published peer-reviewed articles, essays, and a book, Reconstituting Whiteness: The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission. 

Jenny earned her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Arizona and her B.A. in sociology-anthropology from Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi.