UM School of Education Alumnus Jason S. Dean  (MA 99, PhD 03) was named the chairman of the State Board of Education in August 2018.

Dean will serve in this position for two years. A former UM assistant dean of students, Dean is the vice president of Tenax Aerospace, an aerospace company based in Madison, Mississippi. Previously he worked as vice president of the Mississippi Economic Council and was a policy advisor to Gov. Haley Barbour. He is a former White House Fellow and was a member of the faculty and staff at the University of Mississippi.

“After completing my degree at Ole Miss, I began my career in education at the university as the assistant dean of students and then visiting professor,” he said. “I went to Jackson to serve as Gov. Barbour’s education policy advisor hoping to only serve for two to three years, but Hurricane Katrina changed that plan. I went to work in Washington, D.C. and later came back home to work for the Mississippi Economic Council then in the economic development world. So when Lt. Gov. Reeves nominated me to the State Board, I felt it was a great opportunity to do my part in improving student achievement and the future of our state.”