Judy Jackson, former director of the Office of Minority Education, will serve with Dr. Mary P. Rowe as MIT's ombudspersons this academic year, President Charles M. Vest has announced.
MIT ombudspersons serve as a neutral and confidential resource for resolution of personal or professional disputes and conflicts. MIT Policies and Procedures state that "any individual who has a concern may at any time raise the matter informally and confidentially" with one of the ombudspersons, who are Special Assistants to the President.
Ms. Jackson will be working part-time, taking the place of Dr. Clarence Williams, who is on leave this year completing a book on the history and experience of African-Americans at MIT. Her office is in Rm 3-221 and her phone number is x3-5446.
"I am very grateful that she has agreed to take on these additional responsibilities for the coming year," Dr. Vest said.
Ms. Jackson is completing her doctorate at Harvard's Graduate School of Education, where she has a Gregory Anrig Graduate Fellowship. She is also working in the Provost's Office on a national initiative to increase diversity in the science and engineering professoriate.
Ms. Jackson was associate dean of undergraduate education and student affairs and director of the Office of Minority Education at MIT from 1989-94. Before coming to MIT, she served as assistant dean of the College of Engineering at Cornell University for four years, and as advisor to minority and foreign students at Bucknell University for four years. She was also a lecturer in English, teaching writing at Susquehanna University for two years.
She received the BA in French language and literature in 1971 from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and the MA from Bucknell in 1990 in Francophone-African literature, geography and foreign policy. Ms. Jackson received the Boston Black Achiever Award in 1993.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on September 25, 1996.
