Jane Gates

DANBURY, CONN. — Western Connecticut State University Provost Dr. Jane McBride Gates has been named as one of the 100 Most Influential Blacks in Connecticut for 2011 by the state conference of the NAACP.

Mc Bride Gates will be honored at a Dec. 10 luncheon at the NAACP’s 46th Annual State Convention at the Hartford Hilton. Author, civil rights activist and comedian Dick Gregory will be the keynote speaker.

Prior to joining the WCSU community in July 2011, McBride Gates had been dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Savannah State University in Georgia since 2002. Nearly 4,000 students attend Savannah State, part of the University System of Georgia.

In 2006-07, McBride Gates served as interim vice president for Academic Affairs at Savannah State, Georgia’s oldest Historically Black University. Before relocating to Georgia, she was a tenured faculty member, chair of the political science department, and interim associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Arkansas State University.

McBride Gates earned her bachelor’s from Arkansas State; a Master of Public Administration from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville; and a Ph.D. in political science from Southern Illinois University, with major degree areas in public policy, organizational behavior and Chinese politics. She also has pursued advanced management training at Harvard.

Western Connecticut State University offers outstanding faculty in a range of quality academic programs. Our diverse university community provides students an enriching and supportive environment that takes advantage of the unique cultural offerings of Western Connecticut and New York. Our vision: To be an affordable public university with the characteristics of New England’s best small private universities.