Women of Distinction Magazine Selects Mittie Davis Jones as a Distinguished Professional in Her Field

    BEACHWOOD, OH, October 01, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Mittie Davis Jones, Retired Faculty Member and Retired Chairperson of the Department of Urban Studies in the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, Cleveland State University, has been recognized as a Distinguished Professional in her field through Women of Distinction Magazine. Mittie Davis Jones will be featured in an upcoming edition of the Women of Distinction Magazine in 2016/2017.

Hired by the City of Detroit Housing Commission as a Public Housing Aide in 1972, Mittie Davis Jones was later promoted to Assistant Manager only to later utilize her management and social work skills as Director of the Social Services Office at one of the public housing sites.

Simultaneously working toward her Master of Urban Planning at Wayne State University, she moved into a new role as City Planner for Detroit. Continuing on in her education, she then entered into the PhD program in Political Science, also at Wayne State University, completing her degree in 1985. There, she majored in Public Administration with minors in Public Policy and Urban Politics.

"After completing my PhD, I initially planned to become an administrator with the city of Detroit where I was working at the time," Jones said. "But the opportunity to join the academy as a faculty member was presented to me and it enabled me to utilize the experiences I obtained working in a large government bureaucracy and in a premier non-profit urban coalition directing its neighborhood stabilization and housing program, as well as my political experience, to inform my teaching, research, and community service at Cleveland State."

Jones spent 31 years as a Faculty Member for the University, and four years as Chairperson of the Department of Urban Studies in the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, officially retiring in June 2016. During her tenured career, she held a number of administrative roles, including Program Director of the Master in Urban Studies Program, Program Director of the Master of Urban Planning, Design, and Development, Assistant Dean of Student Services, Director of the Urban Child Research Center, and lastly as Department Chair where she oversaw a multidisciplinary unit that offers five graduate degrees, six undergraduate degrees, one doctoral degree, three dual degree programs in conjunction with the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, and nine certificate programs.

Serving in various leadership positions throughout her community, including as Chairperson for the Board of Trustees for Living in Cleveland Center, Garden Valley Neighborhood House, and the Empowerment Center of Greater Cleveland, Jones also served on several other boards, including Fairfax Renaissance Development Corporation and Policy Bridge, a local think tank. While employed with the University, she was involved by serving as Vice-President of the Faculty Senate and as President of the Cleveland State University Black Faculty and Staff Organization (BFSO) three times.

"Throughout my career in education, one of my proudest accomplishments was in 1986 after authoring a position paper that called for the establishment of an office of minority affairs and community relations at the university on behalf of the BFSO," Jones noted. "Although it still isn't clear how much impact this appeal had on the outcome, the university established a similar office two years later. I continued to be involved with the pursuit of diversity, representation, and equity over the years and in the early 2010's I played a leadership role in forming the mission and structure for diversity councils in all colleges at the university. This involvement was monumental in demonstrating the tenacity required to make sustainable institutional change."

Holding life memberships with Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., NAACP, and the Michigan State Black Alumni Association, Jones plans to continue teaching part-time while retired at Cleveland State University and to serve as an Independent Consultant practicing program planning and evaluation. She also plans to further her social justice, advocacy, and public policy interests by working with organizations like Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, and National Black Child Development Institute.

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About Women of Distinction Magazine:
Women of Distinction Magazine strives to continually bring the very best out in each article published and highlight Women of Distinction. Women of Distinction Magazine's mission is to have a platform where women can grow, inspire, empower, educate and encourage professionals from any industry by sharing stories of courage and success.

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