Prof. Youngblood has over 25 years of leadership experience in higher education, international development, law and public policy. His distinguished career in higher education spans strategic leadership roles in academic affairs and e-learning, public affairs and external relations, international programs and partnerships, innovation, and university advancement. Prof. Youngblood is recognized as a global thought leader on the role of higher education institutions as transformational agents and catalysts for sustainable change in communities worldwide. His international experience includes development projects and collaborations across six continents, earning him recognition as a distinguished Next Generation Leadership Fellow of the Rockefeller Foundation and the American Council on Education.
As Chancellor of Kean University’s Global and USA Regional Campuses, Prof. Youngblood oversees a global e-learning portfolio and a network of access-oriented campuses across New Jersey that serve as gateways to the Kean University System. He leads the university’s global strategy, forging international partnerships with academic and industry leaders in the UAE, Asia and Bermuda. Prof. Youngblood also directs the Division of Transformational Learning and External Affairs, driving innovation, online education, workforce development, and micro-credentialing across the US academic enterprise and in partnership with Wenzhou-Kean University in China.
An accomplished scholar and policy expert, Prof. Youngblood has advised local, state, and international leaders and governmental and non-governmental organizations, providing strategic counsel on education reform, global and economic development, health, and capacity-building for institutions and agencies across sectors. He has been a lead investigator on multiple grants, authored numerous articles and reports, and presented on a wide range of topics both in the United States and abroad.
Prof. Youngblood received a Juris Doctorate from the University of Iowa College of Law and his Ph.D. in Anthropology and Human Development from the University of Pennsylvania, which is consistently ranked among the top 15 research universities in the world.
