Keith Jenkins
Vice President and Associate Provost for Diversity and Inclusion
Keith Jenkins
Vice President and Associate Provost for Diversity and Inclusion
Education
BA, University of Arkansas; MA, Ph.D., Florida State University
Bio
Since joining the Department of Communication at RIT in 1992, Professor Jenkins, in addition to his current role as Vice President ; Associate Provost for Diversity & Inclusion, has also served as RIT Faculty-in-Residence (1993 – 1995), RIT’s first Assistant Provost for Diversity (1999 – 2002), Director of Undergraduate Degree Programs in the School of Communication (2011 – 2016), and Interim Vice President and Associate Provost, Division for Diversity & Inclusion (2016 - 2017).
Professor Jenkins is the recipient of many awards. Among the RIT awards are the 2010 Eisenhart Award for Outstanding Teaching, the 2005 Isaac L. Jordan Pluralism Award, the 2004 RIT Diversity Trailblazer Award, the 1993-94 Provost’s Excellence in Teaching Award, the 1996 and 1997 Higher Education Opportunity Program “Community Professor” awards which recognize a professor who has made a difference in the lives of HEOP students at RIT, and NTID’s (National Technical Institute for the Deaf) 1995 Pluralism Award.
Professor Jenkins’ scholarly publications and presentations center around studies in intercultural communication, political and visual rhetoric, and the rhetoric of gospel song. Most recently, the focus of his research has been on pragmatism and the rhetoric of inclusion in Barack Obama’s 2008 Presidential campaign.
Select Scholarship
Currently Teaching
In the News
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March 23, 2022
RIT Diversity and Equity Campus Climate Survey underway for students, faculty, and staff
RIT has launched a new survey that will allow the campus community to provide confidential, honest feedback about the university’s ability to create an inclusive, diverse, engaging, and supportive environment.
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February 14, 2022
Creating a free speech campus culture
After the contested 2020 presidential election, the tumult of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, and the national protests following the killing of George Floyd, RIT looked inward to see how to address the political climate with the student body. The result is an increased effort to create a campus culture of free speech and to give students the skills to participate in civil discourse respectfully and productively long after they graduate.
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January 31, 2022
Community of innovators hits record numbers
RIT’s community of students, faculty, staff, and alumni has grown larger than ever. Enrollment jumped to a new record last fall with 19,718 students studying across all campuses, up 1,050 from fall 2020.