(JACKSON, Miss.) – Jackson State University (JSU) has named Preselfannie E. Whitfield McDaniels, Ph.D., provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, following her service in the interim role since May 15, 2025.
A professor of English in the College of Liberal Arts and longtime faculty member, McDaniels brings more than 25 years of higher education experience to JSU’s chief academic role. She previously served as dean of the Division of Graduate Studies from 2018 to 2025 and chaired the Department of English, Foreign Languages and Speech Communication.
“Dr. McDaniels knows Jackson State from the classroom, the faculty ranks and senior academic leadership,” said JSU President Denise Jones Gregory, Ph.D. “She understands the academic choices before us as we strengthen quality, support faculty, help more students complete their degrees and ensure our programs prepare graduates for life and work after JSU. Her experience, judgment and knowledge of this university make her well prepared to lead that work.”
As provost, McDaniels will lead Academic Affairs with a focus on strengthening curriculum, improving student progression and completion and ensuring academic programs are responsive to workforce, research and community needs. Her appointment provides continuity in JSU’s chief academic role as the university advances its strategic planning process and defines its next phase of academic direction.
McDaniels joined the JSU faculty in 1999 and has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in English. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Jackson State University’s DuBois-Harvey Honors College, a master’s degree from Mississippi College and a doctorate in English from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.
Her academic leadership at JSU includes work in graduate education, accreditation, curriculum development, assessment and undergraduate research. She has served on the Assessment Team, Writing Across the Curriculum Committee, Undergraduate and Graduate Curriculum Committees, DuBois-Harvey Honors College Advisory Board and Graduate Council. She also served as freshman English coordinator, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges Quality Enhancement Plan director, McNair Scholars Program mentor and advisory board member and a former first-year adviser in the Division of Undergraduate Studies.
Her research interests include portfolio and capstone pedagogy, service-learning integration, 20th-century American literature and African American women’s literature. She is co-editor, with Helen Chukwuma, Ph.D., of “Meeting Points in Black/Africana Women’s Literature” and has published in academic journals and books focused on literature, teaching and learning.
McDaniels’ grant leadership includes service as principal investigator on two Council of Graduate Schools-National Science Foundation grant subawards. She currently serves as co-principal investigator on an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant in partnership with North Carolina A&T University and Florida A&M University. She has also served as project director on three National Endowment for the Humanities grants through the Mississippi Humanities Council.
“Jackson State University has shaped my life as a student, scholar, teacher and administrator,” McDaniels said. “I am grateful to continue serving our students and faculty as provost. My focus is to help strengthen the academic pathways, programs and supports that allow students to complete their degrees and leave JSU prepared for meaningful work, graduate study and service.”
A JSU alumna, McDaniels is a lifetime member of the JSU National Alumni Association and the Jackson-Hinds Alumni Chapter, where she serves as scholarships committee chair. Beyond the university, she has held leadership roles with the College Language Association, Mississippi Philological Association and Mississippi Humanities Council. She is a past board chair and nine-year member of the Mississippi Humanities Council, a member of the Mississippi Book Festival Board of Advisors and Mississippi Encyclopedia Online Advisory Board, historian of the Mary Church Terrell Literary Club and former chair of the Elections Committee for the Jackson (MS) Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
The appointment is effective immediately.
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