Gregory A. Jackson

Associate Provost for Information Technology
University of Chicago

From 1991 to 1996 Jackson was Director of Academic Computing for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He oversaw MIT's $6 million budget for instructional and scholarly technology, working with his own staff, with academic departments and faculty, and with information-technology organizations to make sure the Athena Computing Environment and other information systems facilities served the teaching and learning needs of MIT faculty and students. He also served on Institute faculty committees involved with engineering education, primary and secondary education, computing policy, information-technology reengineering, libraries, and the evaluation of educational programs.

From 1989 through 1991 Jackson was Director of Educational Studies and Special Projects in the Provost's Office at MIT. Previously Jackson served as one of the founding directors of Harvard University's Educational Technology Center, which studies the use of technology to advance educational practice. He also served as Assistant Director of the Joint Center for Urban Studies of MIT and Harvard University, a multidisciplinary research organization then operated by the two universities.

From 1981 through 1990 Jackson was Associate Professor of Education at Harvard University (and from 1979 through 1981 Assistant Professor), teaching in the University's doctoral and management programs in higher education. From 1977 through 1979 he was Assistant Professor of Education at Stanford University. Concurrently with his administrative work at MIT, Jackson was Adjunct Lecturer in Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and Lecturer in the Harvard University Extension.

Trained as a statistician, Jackson has taught analytic methods for clarifying decision-making, including statistical and qualitative research methods; policy analysis and evaluation, especially in higher education; and computer programming. At MIT Jackson also taught a freshman seminar on the scientific integrity of murder mysteries.

Jackson has worked extensively on evaluation and planning methods in higher education; on research, instructional, and library computing in universities; on admissions and college-choice issues, including the differential impact of financial aid on minority and majority college applicants; and on the selection and use of comparison groups for colleges. He is coauthor of two books -- Who Gets Ahead? and Future Boston -- and of numerous articles, reports, and teaching cases related to his research and administrative work.

Jackson was chair of the 1993 EDUCOM conference in Cincinnati and a member of the conference committee for the following year's conference in San Antonio. He is a member of the Board of Directors for the Seminars on Academic Computing and serves on the AAAS National Council on Science and Technology Education (Project 2061), on the advisory board for Massachusetts Partnerships Advancing Learning of Mathematics and Science (PALMS), and as a consulting editor for the Journal of Higher Education, the Journal of Computing in Higher Education, and Computers in the Schools. Born in Los Angeles and raised in Mexico, Jackson earned his bachelor's degree from MIT and his doctorate from Harvard.