Jack D. Parson
Political Science
1987 Distinguished Research Award
2007 Distinguished Service Award
Jack D. Parson received his undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota, his M.A. from Southern Illinois University, and his Ph.D. from the University of Sussex. Before joining the Department of Political Science in 1980, Dr. Parson taught at the University of Botswana, Makerere University, Kampala and Southern Illinois University.
Dr. Parson lived abroad for eleven years, primarily in Uganda and Botswana. He has traveled extensively throughout Africa and Europe. His teaching interests include comparative politics, the politics of modernization and African politics. Dr. Parson has been active in encouraging student participation in national conferences on the Organization of African Unity. The result has been a series of honors and awards for a number of Political Science majors. During 1984-85 he was a Senior Fulbright Scholar in Botswana and awarded a summer Fulbright in 1990. He has also served as Speaker of the Faculty, Chair of the Department, and Director of the Office of International Education and Programs. He was the Associate Director of a grant from the U.S. Department of Education to strengthen African Studies at the College and Chair of the Conference of South Carolina University Faculty Chairs.
He has published extensively on political and economic conditions in Africa and is currently working on several additional projects in that field. His book, Botswana: Liberal Democracy and the Labor Reserve in Southern Africa was published in 1984 and a second book, Succession to High Office in Botswana, was published in 1990. Dr. Parson has also published in articles in African Today, Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, Journal of Southern African Studies, and the Uganda Economic Journal. He has written chapters for several books on Africa as well. He served on the National Board of Directors of the African Studies Association and is associate chairperson of the Association of African Studies Programs.