Dear Colleagues,
I am pleased to share Professor Kevin Jackson has been selected to serve as the next Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education. Jackson’s appointment will begin October 16, 2022, pending approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. His title until officially approved will be Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Designate.
Professor Jackson is currently a professor of accountancy and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Affairs in the Gies College of Business. As Associate Dean, Professor Jackson leads all aspects of the undergraduate experience at the College. He brings a deep understanding of admissions, recruitment, retention, experiential education and teaching and learning to this new position. His career at Gies has demonstrated his strong personal commitment to inclusion and access, priorities for our undergraduate educational experience at Illinois. Professor Jackson’s well-established student-centered, innovative and collaborative approach make him a clear choice to serve as our next Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education.
He has been a member of the Illinois faculty for nearly 20 years and brings incredible knowledge and familiarity with our university to this new role. Before being named Associate Dean of Undergraduate Affairs, he was the Academic Director of the BS/MAS Program. While at Gies, Jackson also created the Access and Multicultural Engagement Program to make underrepresented minority communities feel welcome.
Professor Jackson holds two degrees from the University of Texas at Austin—a bachelor of business administration and Ph.D. in accounting. He has received numerous awards and honors including the PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP Faculty Fellowship, the Lester H. McKeever Jr. Outstanding Leader in Advancing Diversity Award from the Illinois CPA Society and was named among the Top 50 Undergraduate Business Professors in the nation by Poets&Quants. He has also been included on the university list of “Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students” for 12 out of the past 17 years.
I am grateful to Professor Jackson for leading our university in his new role. And I am confident in his ability to advance Illinois in providing innovative world-class educational experiences for our undergraduate students and to continue rethinking the way we deliver on our educational missions.
Please join me in congratulating Professor Jackson and welcoming him to this new position.
Sincerely,
William Bernhard
Interim Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost