2007 EDUCAUSE Leadership Award

Gregory A. Jackson
for perceptive, frank analysis of complex issues and strong advocacy for IT in higher education

Vice President and CIO
University of Chicago

A respected advocate for higher education information technology for many years, Jackson has excelled at management posts at Harvard, MIT, and the University of Chicago and achieved wide recognition as a communicator and volunteer of integrity, intelligence, and wit. He is now in his twelfth year as chief information officer at the University of Chicago. Before moving to Chicago in 1996, Jackson served as director of Academic Computing for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was instrumental in the evolution of Project Athena. As a faculty member, he was one of the founding directors of Harvard's Educational Technology Center, which studied the use of technology to advance educational practice, and 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.

Jackson has been an influential participant on the boards of EDUCAUSE, National LambdaRail, Internet2, and the Seminars on Academic Computing. He brought positive vision and forward momentum to early efforts toward an NLR-I2 merger, and has been instrumental in creating a forum for research-university CIOs called the Research University CIO Conclave. He was a member of the EDUCAUSE Recognition Committee, chaired the Internet2 National Planning and Policy Council, and is active in the Common Solutions Group and the Ivy+ and CIC (Committee on Institutional Cooperation) CIO groups. He has served on higher-education advisory boards for Dell, Sun, Apple, Microsoft, and Gateway.

He has published and spoken extensively, bringing clear understanding and often unconventional perspectives to complex issues. Articles in the Chronicle of Higher Education include "Open Source is the Answer. What's the Question?" and "A CIO's Question: Will You Still Need Me When I’m 64?" In addition to several articles and two years as editor of the Viewpoints department in EDUCAUSE Review, he has been a consulting editor for the Journal of Higher Education and a member of the editorial board for the Harvard Educational Review. In June he gave invited testimony before the United States House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology hearings on "The Role of Technology in Reducing Illegal Filesharing: A University Perspective."

EDUCAUSE is making a $3,000 contribution in Dr. Jackson’s name to MIT's Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP), which enables undergraduate students to work directly with faculty in cutting-edge research.

This award is sponsored by SunGard Higher Education, An EDUCAUSE Platinum Partner.