Faculty and Staff

Office: PSPPI/Forestry Building
Phone: 618-453-4009
Email: lrbaker@siu.edu

Linda Reneé Baker, who held key managerial positions under three Illinois governors, joined the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute on March 18, 2003, after stepping down as the secretary of Illinois´ largest state agency, the Department of Human Services, a post she held for three years.

Her focus at the institute is to expand access to high-quality health care in partnership with the SIU School of Medicine and helping minorities and people with disabilities realize their full potential. She also teaches a course on leadership for SIU Carbondale.

During her career in public service, Baker held increasingly responsible positions in a variety of state agencies.

As secretary of the Department of Human Services, she led and managed a comprehensive human services agency with about 20,000 employees and an annual budget of about $5 billion. The agency provided services in the areas of community health and prevention, mental health, substance abuse, developmental disabilities, and vocational rehabilitation. The agency also directed and implemented the state's nationally recognized welfare reform efforts.

She previously served as director of the Department of Employment Security, assistant director of the Department of Public Aid and as the first African-American legislative liaison for an Illinois governor.

Baker earned a Ph.D. in public administration from the University of Illinois at Springfield in 2004. She also holds a bachelor's and master's degree in gerontology and health-care administration and public administration from that institution.

She and her husband, G. Ronald Roby, are parents of two children.

Office: PSPPI/Forestry Building
Phone: 618-453-4009
Email: jsjacson@siu.edu

Visiting Professor John S. Jackson has had a five-decade career as a teacher, researcher, and administrator at SIUC. Jackson became Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s 17th chancellor on June 5, 1999, a position he held through June 31, 2001. A political scientist by training, he enjoyed a myriad of connections with faculty and staff, and students. He served as vice chancellor for academic affairs and provost from 1996 to 1999.

Jackson had previously served an 11-year term as dean of the SIUC College of Liberal Arts, one of the University’s largest and most academically diverse colleges. He became vice chancellor and provost in 1996 after serving variously as associate dean of liberal arts and associate dean and acting dean of the Graduate School from 1980 to 1983. For eighteen summers, he played a pivotal role in winning grants to train international students in a U. S. State Department Summer Institute program bringing international students and faculty to the SIUC campus to learn about American government, politics, and culture.

Jackson, a native of Waldo, Arkansas, holds a B. A. degree from Ouachita Baptist University, Arkadelphia, Arkansas (1962), an M. A. from Baylor University (1963), and Ph. D (1970) from Vanderbilt. He came to SIU in 1969 as an instructor. He was promoted to Assistant Professor in 1970, Associate Professor in 1973, and Professor in 1978. He was president of the Faculty Senate in 1976-1977. From January 1964 through July 1966, Jackson was on active duty as an officer in the U. S. Army Intelligence Corps and achieved the rank of Captain.

Dr. Jackson is well known across southern Illinois for his on-camera political analysis and commentary and his expertise in U. S. presidential elections as well as state and local government. He also is a frequent contributor to local, state, and national media coverage of government and politics. He was the editor and one of the authors of Southern Illinois University at 150 Years.

Jackson joined the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute in January 2002 as a Visiting Professor. He directs the Institute’s Demuzio Internship program and edits and frequently contributes to the Simon Review research papers series, which he founded in 2004.