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Jerlando F. L. Jackson is the dean of the Michigan State University College of Education and the MSU Research Foundation Professor of Education.

Fueled by more than 125 publications, Professor Jackson’s research on hiring practices, career mobility, workforce diversity and workplace discrimination has evolved into his focus on organizational disparities, a term he is credited with coining. He has authored or edited six books, including "Measuring Glass Ceiling Effects: Opportunities and Challenges" (Jossey-Bass, 2014) and "Ethnic and Racial Administrative Diversity: Understanding Work Life Realities and Experiences in Higher Education" (Jossey-Bass, 2009). Professor Jackson has established multiple groundbreaking initiatives that include serving as founding executive director of the Center for African American Research and Policy (CAARP) in 2005, 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 director of Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB) in 2010, and co-founder of the International Colloquium on Black Males in Education in 2011. He has also received external funding to develop the Beyond the Game program and the National Study of Intercollegiate Athletics, transformational projects related to the experiences of student-athlete and staff in intercollegiate athletics.

Prior to joining Michigan State University in 2022, he held both the Rupple-Bascom Professor of Education and Vilas Distinguished Professor of Higher Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also served as department chair of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis and the director and chief research scientist of Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB).

The recipient of more than 20 honors and awards, Professor Jackson was awarded the Mildred Garcia Senior Exemplary Scholarship Award from the Association for the Study of Higher Education, Alumni Achievement Award from the College of Human Sciences at Iowa State University, Distinguished Scholar Award from the Committee on Scholars of Color at the American Education Research Association and the Brown Award for Excellence in Higher Education and Community Service from the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute. He was named to Education Week’s 200 Most Influential Education Scholar list in 2019 - 2021, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education’s list of “Nine Distinguished Educators that Are Making a Mark” and Madison365’s “Black Power List” both in 2018.

He earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from Iowa State University.

Professor Jackson has delivered over 250 research papers and keynote addresses globally. He also has a portfolio of research focused on interventions designed to broaden participation for underrepresented groups in the scientific workforce. Professor Jackson is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2021) and a member of Sigma Xi Scientific Research Honor Society.

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