Announcing New Dean of Undergraduate Education

Sent: June 3, 2024

From: Vincent J. Del Casino, Jr., Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs

Dear Colleagues,

I am excited to announce that Dr. Melinda Jackson will be the next Dean of Undergraduate Education here at SJSU! Her official start date is July 3, 2024. Dr. Jackson was selected after a highly competitive search across the entire California State University. I want to thank the search committee for their work in bringing such an excellent pool to campus. Dr. Jackson distinguished herself throughout the process, and I look forward to working with her closely in her new role.

Although Dr. Jackson is not new to the campus, it is valuable to remind everyone that she brings extensive leadership in undergraduate student success to the dean role. She joined San José State as a faculty member in Political Science in 2005, and has served in a number of positions including Department Chair, University Director of Assessment, and Director of the Survey & Policy Research Institute. Since 2020, Dr. Jackson has served as Associate Dean and Senior Associate Dean in the Office of Undergraduate Education. In each of these roles she has worked collaboratively to develop high-impact educational experiences to support student engagement and persistence, and to eliminate barriers to student success. Dr. Jackson brings a data and equity-informed perspective to these issues, and has led a number of projects including student and faculty success surveys, advising surveys, and quantitative and qualitative data analysis to inform policy revisions. 

I want to thank Dr. Heather Lattimer for her leadership in the Office of Undergraduate Education over the past year. A lot has been accomplished because of her leadership. I also want to recognize the valuable work of Dr. Matt Capriotti, who stepped in to take on some key projects in the office this year as a faculty associate dean. Dr. Jackson has a strong foundation on which to build as a result of all the amazing collaborative work she has done this year with Drs. Lattimer and Capriotti and because of the leadership she has also brought to the division since 2020. I am excited for the future of undergraduate education at SJSU!

Sincerely,
Vin