Tanisha M. Jackson, executive director of the Community Folk Art Center (CFAC) and professor of practice in the Department of African American Studies (AAS), was recently interviewed by Syracuse.com for their weekly series, “Conversations on Leadership.” Jackson, who began working at Syracuse University in 2019, discussed CFAC’s mission, how the Center navigated through the COVID-19 pandemic, and shared her vision of effective leadership.

“Surround yourself with people who have a diversity of thought,” Jackson said in the interview. “You need somebody who can see things from a different perspective than yourself. Somebody who has different knowledge, if you will. That is so important because you don’t know it all. I don’t care what type of leadership role you have, we all have limitations and biases at times. There may be something that I didn’t consider but someone else who has a different background and a different lived experience does. That only strengthens me and my decision-making.”

Jackson, who earned a Ph.D. in Art Education, an M.A. in African American Studies, and a B.A. in English all at The Ohio State University, teaches classes in African diaspora art, including art of the Black world and contemporary Black film in A&S.