Page 35 - DistWomenMS_2025

Dr. Jennifer K. Young Wallace is a tenured Associate Professor and Coordinator of the k12 PhD Program at Jackson State University. She was recently elected President 2025-2026 for the Association of Teacher Educators, making history as the first president who is an alumnus of, and employed at an HBCU. She is the 5th African American president in the 104-year history of the organization. She travels over the United States as keynote speaker for national conferences, commencement & baccalaureate exercises, organizations’ initiatives and others.
In February 2025, the MS House of Representatives voted in H.R. 44, awarding her a Resolution for being a trailblazer in education on a state/ national level that was presented at an HR session at the MS State Capitol. Wallace was awarded the Summer 2024 JSU Faculty Fellowship from the Institute of Social Justice for her social justice research project, An Injustice to Social Justice: The MS Black Caucus Perspective on Critical Race Theory. Recently, Harvard University invited her to a two-year project, where she will utilize Harvard’s resources from its Black Teacher Archive. Among many awards/recognitions, Wallace received the 2024 Champion Award for Women in Rotary; 2023 Educator’s Award from MS Women of Progress; and 2025 Women History Month Honoree. She is a proud recipient of the Doctoral Excellence Award 2024 for her excellence in doctoral research and doctoral level curriculum and education.
Dr. Wallace received a bachelor’s degree from Alcorn State University in English/Journalism; master’s degree from Jackson State in Counseling Psychology; master’s degree in English from Mississippi College; and Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Educational Administration from Jackson State. She holds numerous k-12 educator’s licensure, including Administration, Counseling, English, and Psychometry. She completed a two-year bible training class from Word of Life Ministries and is an ordained minister.
Dr. Wallace serves on a national research team with college professors across America, researching k-12 teachers’ perceptions of their own pedagogy. She was selected as a national evaluator of education programs for numerous national organizations including CAEP, AAQEP, BranchED, & SACSCOS in colleges and universities in the United States, where she travels to evaluate colleges’ performance on educational standards. She served on the national Board for the Association of Teacher Educators (2019-2022), where she worked on the sustainability of the organization. Other Boards include the Margaret Walker Alexander National Center Board and Precious Children Mobile Mission Board (Vice-President). She presently chairs the Legislative Government Relations Committee for the Association of Teacher Educators. She served a 3-year-term on the Advocacy Committee for the national American Association for College Teachers of Education (AACTE), one of seven professors in the nation elected to the committee.
She is a member of the LeFleur’s Bluff Chapter of the Links, Inc.; Vice President of the National Coalition of One Hundred Black Women, Central MS Chapter; Past Assistant Governor for Rotary Club District 6820; and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. She was name one of MS’s top businesswomen by the Mississippi Business Journal. She has been chosen as keynote speaker for national organizations’ conferences, collegiate and high school graduations; she has presented her research on leadership and educational trends at numerous national conferences.
She is married to Michael A. Wallace, and is the daughter of Mr. Learnear and Mrs. Mattie L. Young of Cruger, Mississippi. She enjoys spending time with her family and her sister, Wendolyn Young. Overall, Dr. Wallace is thankful that God has given her a Spirit of giving, serving, and sharing. She has a passion for education and considers her engagement as an Educational Ministry.
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