Pulitzer Prize finalist and Boston Globe columnist Derrick Jackson was welcomed home to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on November 8 to be recognized at the UWM Alumni Awards Evening.
Jackson was recognized for his volunteer work with the Boy Scouts of America. He and his wife are committed to promoting gay equity and tolerance in the Boy Scouts community.
Jackson was honored to receive the Alumni Award.
“It was most striking to be among so many people doing incredible things, and no one was puffing out their chest” he said.
Prior to the awards ceremony, Jackson visited UWM to share his knowledge and experiences with Journalism, Advertising and Media Studies (JAMS) students. He treated them with a slideshow of pictures he has taken worldwide. He also answered various questions students had about his career and the future of journalism.
Jackson contributes his own success to the various opportunities that he was given in Milwaukee he told JAMS students
“UWM was my Harvard,” Jackson said.
Jackson felt that the teaching he received in his journalism and photography classes, along with experience at the Journal Sentinel, gave him experience beyond what some of those who went to elite, big-name colleges had.
Jackson believes strongly it is more important what students do while in college than where they go after.
“I hope UWM keeps its traditional values with keeping students in touch with the best practice in Milwaukee, because that’s what it did for me.”
Jackson’s work for the Boston Globe’s Op-Ed section made him a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2001. He has also won multiple awards from the Education Writers Association and the National Association of Black Journalists. Jackson’s photography portfolio includes pictures from prairies in Germany to the more locally focused Milwaukee Bucks. His images of Barack Obama were put on display by Boston’s Museum of African American History.
Jackson is a Milwaukee-native having graduated from John Marshall High School. He later attended UWM where he graduated in 1976 with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications.