Ronald L. Jackson II was named dean of the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Cincinnati. The college is the largest at the university. Dr. Jackson will take on his new duties beginning July 1. He is currently professor of media and cinema studies and the former director of the African American studies program at the flagship campus of the University of Illinois. Before joining the University of Illinois faculty in 2008, he taught for 10 years at Pennsylvania State University. Earlier in his career, he taught at Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania and Xavier University of Louisiana.
Dr. Jackson graduated from high school at the age of 15. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in communications at the University of Cincinnati and a Ph.D. in rhetorical and intercultural communication at Howard University in Washington, D.C.