*2000–Ward is the Lawrence Durgin Professor of English, Tougaloo College; Ward receives the Darwin T. Turner Award of Excellence from the African American Literature and Culture Society

*2001–Ward is the Lawrence Durgin Professor of English, Tougaloo College; Ward is inducted into the International Literary Hall of Fame for Writers of African American Descent (Chicago State University)

*2002– Ward leaves Tougaloo College after 32 years of service and accepts an appointment at Dillard University as Distinguished Professor of English and African American World Studies; Ward performs as Richard Wright for the Mississippi Writers Chautauqua, September 19-October 22, 2002

*2003–Ward served as a UNCF/Mellon Mentor at Dillard University

*2004–Ward participates in Furious Flower II: “The Black Poetic Tradition –Toward the 21st Century,” Furious Flower Poetry Center, James Madison University and interviews Houston A. Baker, Jr. for the video Program I-Roots and First Fruits (California Newsreel)

*2005–Ward is Distinguished Professor of English, Dillard University

*2006–Ward writes The Katrina Papers: A Journal of Trauma and Recovery

*2007–Ward leads monthly discussions of texts by Richard Wright in Natchez, MS as an outreach effort sponsored by the Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration ; Ward is the keynote speaker, October 26, 2007 for the African American Literature and Culture Society Symposium of the American Literature Association, Saint Louis University

*2008­­— The Richard Wright Encyclopedia edited by Dr. Jerry W. Ward, Jr. and Robert J. Butler is published by Greenwood Publishing Group; Ward’s THE KATRINA PAPERS: A Journal of Trauma and Recovery is published by University of New Orleans Press: Ward edits the Mississippi Quarterly (Fall 2008) special issue on Richard Wright.

*2009–Ward is a Visiting Fellow at the Tanner Humanities Center, University of Utah (April 2009) and co-directs “100 Years of Richard Wright: The Man, His Work, and His Legacy” Conference with Dr. Wilfred D. Samuels, University of Utah, April 2-5, 2009; Ward directs the NYU Faculty Resource Network Seminar “Reading Richard Wright,” June 8- 12, 2009 at New York University; Ward is inducted into the Tougaloo College National Alumni Hall of Fame; Ward is an Honorary Chairperson for the Symposium on African American Literature, Central China Normal University, December 19-20, 2009

*2010–Ward serves as a resident faculty member for the NEH institute: “Making the Wright Connection” at the University of Kansas, July 11-24, 2010 : Ward receives the Thad Cochran Humanities Achievement Award from the Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration

*2011– The Cambridge History of African American Literature,  co-edited by Dr. Maryemma Graham and Dr. Jerry W. Ward, Jr. is published by Cambridge University Press; Ward edits the initial issue of Journal of Ethnic American Literature ; Ward receives the Richard Wright Literary Excellence Award from the Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration, February 26, 2011; Ward participates in the 1st Convention of Chinese/American Association for Poetry and Poetics, Central China Normal University, September 29-30, 2011

*2012–Ward teaches at Central China Normal University (Wuhan) as a Distinguished Overseas Professor, May 12-July 9, 2012; Ward retires, August 15, 2012 as a Professor of English, Dillard University