Dr. Edison O. Jackson

Edison O. Jackson, former President of Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York, was born in Heathsville, Virginia. He earned a bachelor’s degree in zoology and master’s degree in counseling from Howard University and a doctorate in education from Rutgers University.

Dr. Jackson became Dean of Student Affairs at Essex County College in New Jersey in 1969, after working as a senior counselor/instructor at Federal City College in Washington, D. C. He became president of Compton Community College in Compton, California, in 1985.

Four years later, he took over the presidency of Medgar Evers College and began the process of moving the institution forward. He created the college’s Freshmen Year Program in 1990, which was instrumental in increasing student retention. As a result of his recognition of the decreasing number of males in College, he created the Male Development and Empowerment Center which helped increase Medgar’s enrollment of black men by 13 percent. Dr. Jackson also played a major role in restoring the Medgar Evers College’s senior-college status in 1994. During his 20-year term as president, the College significantly expanded its baccalaureate degree programs, added a number of new buildings and vastly increased the size of its student population.

Dr. Jackson has also worked with a number of civic and community organizations, including the Crown Heights Coalition and the Board of Trustees of the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg appointed Dr. Jackson to the New York City Commission on Human Rights and the New York State Department of Education Panel for Policy.

The Virginia native has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education. He was appointed to the President’s Round Table and the National Council on Crime and Delinquency. Jackson was among a group of select presidents and chancellors chosen by Secretary of Education William Riley to be part of a summit in the fall of 1999 on improving the teacher education.

Dr. Jackson has written for Black Issues in Higher Education, as well as a number of other publications. He is currently writing a book examining the role of spiritual leadership in higher education and secular institutions.