Dr. Jackson’s diverse career in academia has spanned from Title IV-E Coordinator/Instructor of an undergraduate social work program at an HBCU, Director of Field Education for the first fully online university to receive CSWE accreditation for an MSW program, BSW Program Director of an online program, MSW Program Director of a campus and distance program at a Research I University, to her current role as a tenured Associate Professor and Associate Dean of Educational Programs and Student Services at a Research I university.
As a first generation college student, Dr. Jackson is passionate about education. This passion has guided her practice, research, and scholarship. Her two lines of education research include: (1) post-secondary education access for youth transitioning from foster care and (2) online social work education. Dr. Jackson’s research on transition-age foster youth is grounded in her extensive practice experience and expertise in this area. In 2008, she founded the National Social Work Enrichment Program (NSEP), a pre-college program which seeks to encourage foster youth to consider social work as a college major, while inspiring youth to graduate high school and enroll in college. Dr. Jackson continues to lead this organization with the vision to improve the educational outcomes of youth, while collecting significant pre-college program data, an unchartered area of post-secondary foster care research. Dr. Jackson was honored as the Social Worker of the Year in two states, NASW-GA in 2009 and NASW-AL in 2017 for her work with transition-age foster youth.
Dr. Jackson has also maintained an active research and scholarship agenda with her second line of education research, online social work education. She has presented at national and international professional conferences on this topic. She was selected to participate in the Institute on Pedagogy and Technology for Online Courses at Columbia University. She has received awards as an Innovation Team Scholar and Innovation Scholar in Residence from the UA College of Continuing Studies (CCS) Online Education Initiative. She obtained the Quality Matters Teaching Online Certificate in 2021. Dr. Jackson was selected as the 2023 Keynote Speaker for the Online Innovation Summit held at UA.
As a former CSWE Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) recipient, Dr. Jackson continues to be a leader in social work education. She currently serves on the CSWE Council on the Role and Status of Women in Social Work Education and was selected for the CSWE Program Director’s Leadership Academy. Dr. Jackson is a trailblazer in our profession, and through her leadership, practice, and research, a college education has become a viable option for hundreds of youth transitioning from foster care.