
Caesar Mickens
Director, Early College Design Services
Caesar Mickens is JFF’s director of Early College Designs, assisting public school districts nationwide to prepare all students for college success, especially those populations underrepresented in higher education.
Dr. Mickens has worked for more than 25 years and across education sectors as a public school adult education teacher and district administrator, college faculty member, workforce trainer, and program coordinator for both nonprofit and for-profit education providers. Before JFF, he served as senior vice president of academics for Aztec Software, developing and piloting web-based education software for adults in ABE, GED, and developmental educational programs. He also helped to design mobile education and student intervention platform in Nigeria, Ghana, and the United States.
His public administrative posts include: deputy superintendent, Professional Learning and Development in the Louisiana Recovery School District; executive director of professional development for the Rockford Public Schools in Illinois; and executive director of four departments within the Detroit Public Schools. He was also the principal at Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy.
Dr. Mickens is author or coauthor of three chapters or works on education technology, most recently the chapter “Expectation, Technology, and High Achievement: Are We There Yet?” for Expectations in Education (2009), edited by Robert Green. He has also put education on the airwaves in Detroit, both as host of the Homework Hotline Radio Show on WDTR-FM and as assistant project director of GED on TV, an adult education program on WTVS-TV.
Dr. Mickens earned his Ph.D. in instructional technology from Wayne State University. He also has a Master’s in the same field from Wayne State and Bachelor’s from the University of Michigan.
Jobs for the Future works with our partners to design and drive the adoption of education and career pathways leading from college readiness to career advancement for those struggling to succeed in today’s economy.
