Jerlando F. L. Jackson was recently appointed to the Rupple-Bascom Professorship by UW–Madison Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs John Karl Scholz.
Jackson chairs the School of Education’s highly regarded Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, and is the director and chief research scientist of Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB).
“I’m thrilled that Professor Jackson has been awarded the Rupple-Bascom Professorship,” says School of Education Dean Diana Hess. “The high quality of his research, and the leadership he has provided for the department, our School, and the campus community make Professor Jackson a deserving recipient of this professorship.”
Jackson’s research centers on hiring practices, career mobility, workforce diversity, and workplace discrimination, and has evolved to focus on organizational disparities. With a career stretching over two decades, Jackson has earned more than $13 million in grant and research funds.
The Wei LAB focuses its efforts on designing, conducting, and disseminating research that informs policymakers, practitioners, and citizens on how to best promote equitable and inclusive learning and work environments in education in general — and higher education in particular.
Jackson notes now the Wei LAB’s research agenda and priorities seek to engage the most difficult and important equity and inclusion topics confronting the educational system, with the goal of becoming an international leader and champion for equitable and inclusive educational organizations.
The Rupple-Bascom Professorship will provide Jackson with discretionary funds over the next five years to be used for research- and scholarly-related activities.
“It is a distinct honor to assume the Rupple-Bascom Professorship,” says Jackson. “The resources and platform will be used to deepen my research commitment and advocacy to disrupting organizational disparities in and outside of the education enterprise.”
Earlier this year, Jackson chaired the search-and-screen committee to help UW–Madison leadership identify and select candidates for the next deputy vice chancellor for diversity and inclusion, vice provost, and chief diversity officer.
Jackson has also authored or edited six books, including “Measuring Glass Ceiling Effects: Opportunities and Challenges” and “Ethnic and Racial Administrative Diversity: Understanding Work Life Realities and Experiences in Higher Education (2009).”
During his career, Jackson has also established multiple groundbreaking initiatives, including: serving as the founding executive director of the Center for African American Research and Policy (CAARP) in 2005; working as the founding co-director of the Asa G. Hilliard III and Barbara A. Sizemore Research Course on African Americans and Education, held at the American Educational Research Association since 2007; founding (in 2010) and directing the Wei LAB; and becoming a co-founder of the International Colloquium on Black Males in Education in 2011.