Basil Wilson, Ph.D

Provost Emeritus, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Basil Wilson began his academic career at John Jay College of Criminal Justice as an Instructor in the Department of African American Studies.  In completing his doctoral dissertation in Political Science at the City University and Graduate Center in 1979, he was promoted to Assistant Professor.  Professor Wilson was tenured in 1983 and subsequently promoted to Full Professor in 1990.

In 1990, he was appointed Acting Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs, and after a nationwide search, was confirmed in that position in 1991.  From 1990 to 2006, he served as the Provost and Senior Vice President of John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

During those 16 years, he was instrumental in promoting a culture of teaching and learning at the College and nurtured an ethos of research and faculty collegiality.  In 1989, he co-authored a study with Prof. Charles Green, Hunter College, titled The Struggle for Black Empowerment in New York City: Beyond the Politics of Pigmentation.  He is the author of numerous publications including “The Changing Demographics and the Unchanging Nature of Power in New York City”, “The Rise of the Caribbean Middle Class in South-east Queens” and “Jamaican Posses and Organized Crime”.  He has written a weekly column for Carib News for the last twenty-five years.

After retiring from the City University of New York in 2008, Professor Wilson became the Dean of Criminal Justice in the King Graduate School, Monroe College, New York.  He served in that capacity from 2009 to 2013 when he was appointed Executive Director of the King Research Institute, King Graduate School at Monroe College.  In September 2016, he retired from the King Graduate School and currently teaches a couple of courses for the academic year.

Professor Wilson is an active member of The Friends of Eastern St. Thomas., New York Chapter; a founding member of the Research Committee of Jamaica and also a founding member of the Kingston College Old Boys’ Assn., New York Chapter.

He is married to Phyllis Wilson and they are the parents of three children,

Natasha, Makonnen and Mabricio.  They are also the grandparents of six.