Jackson State names Denise Jones Gregory 14th president
The Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning announced Thursday that Denise Jones Gregory has been named the 14th president of Jackson State University, the board said.
Gregory has served as interim president since May 2025 after Dr. Marcus Thompson resigned amid litigation, the board said. The board said it evaluated roughly 80 candidates during an eight-month national search, narrowing the field through first-round interviews of eight candidates and second-round interviews of three, with background and reference checks conducted by AGB Search consultants.
“The Board of Trustees put a tremendous amount of time and energy into this search process, and we are confident in Dr. Gregory’s ability to help write the next chapter in Jackson State University’s long history,” said Dr. Steven Cunningham, vice president of the IHL board and chair of the search committee. “I also want to recognize and thank the members of the Search Advisory Constituency, who spent hours reviewing applications and interviewing candidates. Their commitment to this process was critical and deeply appreciated,” he said.
The board said Gregory’s candidacy gained momentum after the state added a group of individuals connected to Jackson State to the search process and revoked a policy that had restricted an interim president from applying for the permanent post. Before becoming interim president, Gregory was provost and vice president for academic affairs at Jackson State.
Jackson State and the board said Gregory graduated magna cum laude from Jackson State in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and earned a doctorate in chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology. The board also cited additional training Gregory completed through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the New Presidents Academy at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, and executive programs at Clark Atlanta University. Patrease Edwards, a member of the Search Advisory Constituency and president of the Jackson State National Alumni Association, said the group is prepared to support Gregory as she assumes the role. The board said Gregory’s tenure begins immediately.
Source: Original Article
