Jerlando Jackson received the 2020 Slesinger Award for Excellence in Mentoring during a virtual ceremony on Dec. 3.
This award was created to celebrate the often hidden work of individuals who help women faculty members at UW–Madison achieve their goals and reach their highest potential. The award includes $2,500 from the Women’s Philanthropy Council to direct to a UW–Madison initiative or program of the honoree’s choosing.
“I’m deeply honored to receive the Slesinger Award and I do not take this distinction lightly as a male,” says Jackson, the Vilas Distinguished Professor of Higher Education and chair of the School of Education’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis. “I’m dedicating this award to my mother, who inspired me to commit to disrupting gender disparities.”
Jackson also is the director and chief research scientist of Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB), which is dedicated to examining how best to promote equitable and inclusive learning and work environments in higher education.
Xueli Wang, one of the people who nominated Jackson for the award, says that while many are aware of his important work in the realm of organizational change toward promoting full participation for underrepresented groups in society, they may not have been as familiar with Jackson’s equally impactful role as a mentor.
“From day one when I started as a new assistant professor, knowing next to nothing about how to navigate the world of academia, Dr. Jackson has been on this journey with me every step of the way,” Wang — who is the Barbara and Glenn Thompson Professor in Educational Leadership with the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis — said during the awards ceremony. “It was also through this journey that I’ve closely watched Dr. Jackson in action as an extraordinarily impactful mentor for countless others across the country and the globe.”
Wang highlighted Jackson’s ability to “provide support by honoring our own holistic identities without losing sight of the incremental steps that take us where we aspire to be.”
“Jerlando’s mentoring transcends identities, cultures, geography, nationalities, and much more,” adds Wang. “Many of us who are women faculty and faculty of color are now thriving as impactful researchers, educators, and leaders in our own rights largely owing to who he is and how he gives as one of the most transformative mentors, past, present, and future.”
Rachelle Winkle-Wagner also spoke highly of Jackson in her nomination letter for the award.
“Dr. Jackson played a crucial role in providing me an opportunity to grow my research to the next level and mentoring relative to my research on race, most of which has centered Black women,” wrote Winkle-Wagner, also a professor with the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis. “I simply would not be at the University of Wisconsin–Madison had it not been for him recruiting me here. Dr. Jackson was a key member of my mentoring committee toward tenure and promotion, and he took that role seriously, offering advice and mentoring that was far beyond expectations for that role.”
Winkle-Wagner adds: “As a white woman, it has been absolutely imperative that I have had scholars of color mentoring me and closely providing me accountability on my work so that it is authentic and humanizing to the people involved in that work. … Finally, while many men who are scholars may fail to understand the deep strain that parents can face in the academy, Dr. Jackson has also been a consistence support of women who are parents and scholars.”