Advancing Equity and Diversity in Student Affairs Media Mention
From Diverse Issues in Higher Education
July 3, 2018
Wei LAB Director Jerlando F.L. Jackson first met Dr. Melvin C. Terrell while a Ph.D. student studying professional growth factors for African American administrators at predominantly White institutions. Terrell called Jackson to talk to him about the importance of the study and offer to help gather participants.
"No one had taken ... interest in me or my work sight unseen before," Jackson says in the 2018 book he co-edited, "Advancing Equity and Diversity in Student Affairs: A Festschrift in Honor of Melvin C. Terrell." "I assumed it was just rhetoric."
A Festschrift is an academic tradition that recognizes the retirement of an accomplished scholar by other scholars contributing original work to a volume dedicated to the honoree. Terrell was a pioneer in student affairs, serving as vice president for student affairs at Northeastern Illinois University for 20 years. Terrell provided guidance to scholars and practitioners, many of whom contributed to the Festschrift in his honor.
Jackson is Vilas Distinguished Professor of Higher Education, and the director and chief research scientist of Wisconsin’s Equity and Inclusion Laboratory at WCER. In addition to co-editing "Advancing Equity and Diversity in Student Affairs," he wrote the introduction and co-authored two chapters. DeVon Wilson, Wei LAB research associate and director of the Center for Academic Excellence/Assistant Dean in the College of Letters & Science at University of Wisconsin, also contributed a chapter, as did several former Wei LAB staff members.
