NASHVILLE, TN — Dean of the Tennessee State University Honors College, Dr. Coreen Dawkins Jackson was among four distinguished alumni from William Jewell College honored at Celebration of Achievement activities. The Citation for Achievement Award was created in 1944 and is the highest honor given to William Jewell alumni who have made significant contributions in their profession.
An academician, administrator and author, Jackson graduated as valedictorian in her native Jamaica at age 16 and accepted a full academic scholarship at William Jewell College to study Speech Communication. She also holds a Master of Science in Broadcast Journalism from Brooklyn College and a Ph.D. in Mass Communication from Howard University.
In just two years as an assistant professor at Houston Baptist University, she revived the fledgling Mass Media Program. She then joined the faculty at Middle Tennessee State University, serving four years as an assistant professor of broadcast journalism. After several years as a conference ministry leader and cofounder of the Nashville Marriage Network, the ordained minister joined the Department of Communication at Tennessee State University in 2003, where she received approval to build a $1.5 million campus television station. A tenured associate professor, she assumed leadership of the Honors Program in 2013, led the transition of the Honors Program to becoming an Honors College, and grew the enrollment from 120 to nearly 800 honors students. In 2021 she was named dean of the University Honors College.
Among her honors include serving two terms as president of the National Association of African American Honors Programs and receiving the Presidential Fellowship Award, NAAAHP Outstanding Presidential Leadership Award and Media Research Award, among others. Jackson serves on numerous committees and boards both nationally and locally, including the Board of Directors of the National Collegiate Honors Council as well as its International Committee and Diversity Committee. She also travels throughout the United States and abroad with her husband, ministering and conducting seminars, workshops and conferences on marriage through their Nashville Marriage Network.
