Dr. Jean-Claude Assad joined the faculty of Jackson State University and the College of Business in August 1991 as an Assistant Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics, Finance and General Business.  In 1998, he became the founding director of the Ph.D. Program, the first such program at an HBCU, and served in that capacity from 1998 to 2014.  From August 2003 to June 2014, he served as the director of the Business Graduate Programs, managing and coordinating all graduate programs: the Master of Business Administration (MBA) Program, the Master of Professional Accountancy (MPA) Program, the Ph.D. Program in Business, and the new MBA on-line Program.   Over that period, the business graduate programs maintained stable enrollment, high graduation rates, timely program completion, high placement rates (100 percent for Ph.D. graduates), and increased student satisfaction.  He guided the graduate programs through four successful accreditation visits (AACSB in 2003 and 2010; and SACSCOC in 2001 and 2011).

During the 1990s, with a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor, through the Hinds County Private Investment Council, he instituted, the JSU Youth Entrepreneurship Project, with the assistance and collaboration of the department’s faculty, where every summer he brought on campus some of the city’s youth from the local high schools and cultivated in them the understanding of entrepreneurship, while teaching them the fundamentals of management education. To enhance the effectiveness of the high school teacher in the field of business and economics, with a grant from the U.S. Department of Education (the Eisenhower Project) he instituted, again with the assistance and of the faculty, the JSU Economics Enrichment Program for Teachers.  Through this program, he contributed to the continuing professional development and the educational advancement of secondary level social studies teachers of the Jackson metropolitan area.  The program offered him the opportunity to work closely with local high school teachers, volunteered as economics tutors for the Murrah High School AP economics students, and recruited students to the university and the college of business. 

From January 2013 through June 2014, he served as Interim Dean of the JSU College of Business.  After resigning from the dean’s position, he returned to his full-time faculty assignment and continued to serve on the College of Business Graduate Curriculum taskforce and the Graduate Advisory Committee. Throughout his tenure on the faculty, he has taught and mentored generations of undergraduate and graduate students, and served on dissertation committees for students in all three concentrations offered in the college’s Business Graduate programs. Over the years, he has collaborated with colleagues across departments and disciplines, and published peer-reviewed academic articles in reputable business journals.  Collaborators include Drs. Anyamele, Chong, Didia, Freeman, Fulgham, Fuller, Mosley, Smith, Thiagarajan and Yu. 

On the campus, he has served as a faculty senator, club advisor, mentor, member of the University Committee on Teaching Effectiveness, the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee, the Graduate Curriculum Committee, the Graduate Faculty Status Committee, and the Graduate Council.  He served as the President of the Faculty Senate from 2011-2012 and from 2015 through 2017. 

Dr. Assad is a sports enthusiast, and an avid supporter of youth sports, especially soccer.  For many years, he was an active member of the Mississippi Youth Soccer Association (MYSA), and served as the vice-president of the Board of the Central Jackson Soccer Organization (CJSO), as well as a youth soccer coach and team manager.  These days, he spends his weekends at local soccer fields, watching his grandchildren and other youth play the game.    

Jean-Claude is married to Dr. Lynda F. Jackson-Assad, a practicing pediatrician.  They have two sons: Jean-Claude Francois and Jean-Paul Taft, a granddaughter (Marleigh Jade) and a grandson (Malik Francois).