Dr. Mario Azevedo has been selected to serve as dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Jackson State University effective Jan. 1.
“We are most pleased to make this announcement and grateful that we have someone of his caliber and administrative experience in-house to fill this position,” said Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs Dr. James C. Renick.
“Dr. Azevedo has proven his ability to be a leader and with his institutional knowledge of the college can hit the ground running,” Renick said.
Azevedo is currently a professor and interim chair of the Department of History and Philosophy. He earned his Ph.D. in history at Duke University in 1975.
“It was a surprise and I am extremely humbled and thankful to the president, the provost and the search committee for their trust and confidence in me,” Azevedo said.
“I plan to do my best to move the College of Liberal Arts forward, eliciting the cooperation and assistance of the faculty, staff and students,” he said.
Azevedo has held other top jobs at JSU, including interim dean, College of Public Service (School of Health Sciences, School of Social Work, and School of Policy and Planning) from 2009-2013; acting dean, College of Public Service, Fall 2008; and interim associate dean, School of Health Sciences, 2007-2009.
Azevedo came to JSU in 2006 from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where he had been since 1986 and was chair and Frank Porter Graham Professor in the Africana Studies Department, College of Arts and Sciences.
Prior to joining the History Department, Azevedo had worked in the JSU Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. He holds a master’s in public health, Epidemiology (Infectious Diseases), from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, as well as a master’s in History from American University.