Biography: Dr. Reginald S. Avery
Dr. Avery began his career of service as a community organizer in Greensboro, N.C., and later as a community organizer and mental health professional in Chicago. He later served as Associate Director of Social Welfare Programs at the Southern Regional Education Board in Atlanta.
He has been a professor at the following institutions: Western Michigan University; University of Massachusetts at Boston; University of Arkansas at Little Rock; University of Tennessee at Knoxville; and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Prior to his selection as President of Coppin State University, he served as Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of South Carolina Upstate where he also served as Acting Chancellor during the 2006-2007 academic year; Provost at Alma College; Vice President for Academic Affairs at Kentucky State University; Founding Dean of the School of Professional Programs at Benedict College; Director of the School of Social and Community Services at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga; and Chair of the MPA/MSW Management Program at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
While at USC Upstate, Dr. Avery’s accomplishments included overseeing increases in the number of full-time faculty and students, increases in the opportunities for faculty and students to study abroad, and an increased collaborations and partnerships with business and industry, non-profit organizations, educational, and health care organizations. He also implemented the Metropolitan Studies Institute as the university’s primary educational outreach program, helped to secure key outside funding and grants, and conceived and developed the Center for Undergraduate Research.
While at USC Upstate, he served on several boards, including the Board of Directors of the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce, Urban League of the Upstate, the BMW Community Advisory Board, 100 Black Men, Inc., March of Dimes, and the Spartanburg Music Foundation. He also served as a member of the Advisory Committee on Academic Programs for South Carolina and the institutional representative of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and Co-chair of the Grants Review Committee of the Spartanburg County Foundation.
Since assuming the presidency of Coppin State University, Dr. Avery has been appointed as a member of the Board of Directors for the Greater Baltimore Urban League, and a member of the President’s Advisory Council of the Greater Baltimore Committee.
Dr. Avery holds a Ph.D. degree from the Florence Heller School of Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, a M.S.W. degree from George Williams College of Aurora University, and a B.S. degree in sociology/political science from North Carolina A&T State University. His post-doctoral study includes the Management Development Program, the Institute for Educational Management, and the Institute for New College and University Presidents, all at Harvard University.
An avid researcher throughout his professional career, Dr. Avery has interests that cover a broad spectrum: urban growth; environmental and community health; child, alcohol, and drug abuse prevention; women’s empowerment; job training for minorities; global social welfare systems; and school desegregation.
He has served as co-presenter, moderator, chairman, and facilitator for 75 selected professional presentations and papers. Seven funded research grants and projects for which he was co-principal investigator, administrative consultant, program administrator or contributor had a combined value of nearly $3 million.
Dr. Avery has published in numerous journals including Metropolitan Universities: An International Forum Journal; National Social Science Journal; National Black Family Summit Proceeding Journal; Black Caucus, Journal of the National Association of Black Social Workers, and Black Family Development and Mental Health: a Critical Review and Re-analysis of Research and annotated Bibliography, 1975-1982.
He is also the author of three monographs, including a series of 14 full-length articles commissioned and funded by the Arkansas Democrat Newspaper (Little Rock, Arkansas), and has written several book and article reviews.
Born in Greenville, South Carolina as the only child of the late Mrs. Inez G. Avery and the late R. Edward Avery, he and his wife Esther have three adult children and two grandchildren.
