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.
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Currently Teaching
In the News
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December 22, 2022
![environmental portrait of professor Katrina Overby.]()
Katrina Overby to deliver keynote address at RIT’s Let Freedom Ring celebration
RIT’s annual event commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day will feature a keynote address by a faculty member whose work explores the intersections of communication, race, and identity. Katrina Overby, an assistant professor in the School of Communication, will headline the sixth annual Let Freedom Ring.
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October 19, 2022
![graphic reads Together RIT, day of understanding, solidarity, and racial reconciliation.]()
Inaugural Together RIT: A Day of Understanding, Solidarity, and Racial Reconciliation takes place Friday
RIT will launch a new yearly tradition this week when students, faculty, and staff gather Friday for the first Together RIT: A Day of Understanding, Solidarity, and Racial Reconciliation. Registration closes Oct. 19 and is required to ensure a seat for desired sessions.
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August 19, 2022
![RIT President Munson speaking at podium with a power point projection in the background.]()
President Munson calls on RIT community to reinvigorate the campus this academic year
RIT President David Munson welcomed the community for the start of a new academic year with a call to re-energize the campus’s atmosphere to its pre-pandemic level. During his annual President’s Address in Ingle Auditorium this morning, Munson encouraged all RIT faculty, staff, and students to make a new academic year resolution to spend more time face-to-face with one another.
