Named as interim president this past Friday, Dr. Edison Jackson, a retired New York college president, will help Bethune-Cookman University transition to a new leader. The university board of trustees approved the selection of Jackson, who will start May 14, following the retirement of Trudie Kibbe Reed.
Jackson served as president for 20 years at Medgar Evers College, one of the 23 colleges in the City University of New York system. He retired in 2009.
Bethune-Cookman board chairman Larry Handfield told the The Daytona Beach News-Journal that Jackson is a “student-centered person.”
“We are so pleased that Dr. Jackson has agreed to serve as interim president because he brings a wealth of experience, a commitment to excellence and will uphold the legacy of our founder, Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune,” Handfield said in a statement.
Jackson received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Howard University and his doctorate from Rutgers University.
Reed, who is retiring after eight years as president at Bethune-Cookman, said in a statement that she was “very pleased with the selection by the board of trustees.”
“I have known Dr. Jackson as we served together, as college presidents, on the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education. Dr. Jackson is the perfect selection as interim president for the great Bethune-Cookman University, because he is not only an educator and scholar, but also a person of faith,” Reed said.
Jackson will be introduced to university employees and students at a reception Tuesday evening.
