International Journal of Social Policy & Education

ISSN 2689-4998 (print), 2689-5013 (online)

DOI: 10.61494/ijspe

Editor-in chief: Dr. Joseph Martin Stevenson, Founder and Provost Emeritus of the Global Digital Academy.

Dr. Joseph Martin Stevenson most recently served as a Distinguished Scholar at Bethune Cookman and Wilberforce Universities. Prior to these appointments, Joseph assisted Miles College to transition to a new university-wide academic structure. Joseph is the Founding and Emeritus Provost for the Global Digital Academy at Class2Class.com, teaches an online doctoral level class on ethics and social justice for the University of the Virgin Islands, and works with a scholarly research group with the Center for Higher Education Studies at Berkeley. A seasoned college administrator, he frequently advises institutions of higher learning on academic restructuring, reorganization, and reaffirmation of accreditation, including Little Priest College, a Native American Tribal College. He is the author of over 20 books and hundreds of academic publications and national presentations, including co-author of “American Treasures: Building, Leveraging and Sustaining Capacity at HBCUs”

Dr. Stevenson comes to The Valley from Jackson State University where he most recently served as director and founder of the Executive Ph.D. Program/Jake Ayers Institute for Research in Urban Higher Education. Dr. Stevenson founded the institute in 2004, after serving as JSU’s provost and vice president for academic and student affairs from 2001 to 2004.

While on sabbatical last year, he was visiting provost-in-residence for the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO). Among his accomplishments was the crafting of the first national research and policy agenda for NAFEO and HBCUs throughout the United States. Previously, he served as a Kellogg Leadership Fellow at NAFEO as a part of a minority-serving institutional leadership development program. His presidential mentorship for this fellowship was completed at Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Stevenson was campus provost and chief executive officer at Golden Gate University–Sacramento and Central Valley campuses from 1997 to 1999. He also served as provost and vice president for academic affairs at York College, The City University of New York.

His impressive dossier includes stints as associate vice president for academic affairs at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey and as executive assistant to the president at Middle Tennessee State University.

Dr. Stevenson currently lecturers on transformational leadership at Tuskegee University; strategic planning and budgeting for diversity at Stanford University; future higher education trends at Tougaloo College; and future academe at the University of Georgia.

The Valley’s new provost earned a doctorate degree in educational policy and management from the University of Oregon in 1986. He holds a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction leadership with emphasis in K-12 education, also from the University of Oregon. Dr Stevenson holds three degrees from California State University, including a master of arts degree in social science education with an emphasis in government, a master of arts degree in education administration with an emphasis in higher education, and a bachelor of arts degree in government.