Central State University President Dr. Cynthia Jackson-Hammond will resign from the university June 30, 2020, to spend more time with her family. Jackson-Hammond has been the President of Central State for eight years and is ready to let someone else step in.
“My grandkids have been calling me from Italy asking me when their grandmother is going to spend time with them,” Jackson- Hammond said.
Jackson-Hammond believes her biggest accomplishment at Central is establishing six compelling priorities to guide university operations. These priorities include ensuring a quality academic experience, reducing the time it takes students to earn their degree, improving the university’s retention of students, and making the university more efficient.
The university has added a wide variety of agriculture programs related to its Land Grant mission under Jackson-Hammond. It has entered into an agreement with a national labor organization to provide online classes to union members. It entered into an agreement with Wilberforce University to house WU students on campus. The university is adding men’s volleyball to the athletic program.
The university has also enhanced the Wilberforce campus. It has built a new residence hall and a community garden. It finished renovating Emory Hall and the university library. The university worked with the state to improve roads on campus. It has announced plans to install artificial turf in the football stadium, build a hemp research facility, and to lease space for an on-campus grocery store.
Jackson-Hammond is leaving Central State with no regrets or disappointments, though she wishes that she could have done even more as the university's president. She said that her biggest challenge was helping people understand that change is inevitable. She said that addressing misinformation on social media was also a challenge.
Students and staff responded with surprise upon learning that Jackson-Hammond will leave the university. “It’s not going to feel the same coming into work knowing that she’s not here,” secretary Debbie Aikens said. Sophomore Rashon Barksdale said that Jackson-Hammond will be missed. “Even though I’m only a sophomore, and I haven’t been here as long as she has been President, I see the impact that she had and still has on Central,” Barksdale said.
The Central State Board of Trustees has contracted with an outside firm to help find a new president. Academic Search has already held a series of on campus forums with students, faculty, and alumni to gain their perspectives on the search. The university has posted a job description on its website. It hopes to have a new president in place by start of the next school year if not sooner.
Jackson-Hammond believes that whoever is next in line will do an amazing job but her heart will always be a part of Central State University.
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