Duke prof first to hold interdisciplinary post

The Daily Pennsylvanian

Duke University anthropologist John Jackson will be the first Penn professor hired under a new program to promote interdisciplinary study.

Jackson, an anthropology professor, will teach at both Penn's Annenberg School for Communication and the School of Arts and Sciences next semester.

The cross-disciplinary initiative, called Penn Integrates Knowledge -- created as part of University President Amy Gutmann's master plan for the University -- aims to recruit faculty members whose research and teaching span several disciplines. All such professors will hold appointments in two or more schools.

Jackson's research focuses on issues of race, religion and class. He is also an award-winning documentary filmmaker.

"We see Dr. Jackson's arrival at Penn as a perfect marriage between an original scholar ... and a University at the forefront of integrating knowledge," Gutmann said in a statement.

Annenberg Dean Michael Delli Carpini said that the school had been recruiting Jackson for two years.

And though Jackson said he was approached by other universities, including Northwestern and Yale, he said he chose Penn because of the intellectual community at Annenberg and because moving north "is something of a homecoming" for him.

"I'm a New Yorker, but Philadelphia's pretty close," he said.

He also praised the interdisciplinary basis behind the program.

"It is in those spaces between conventional disciplines and conventional schools that a lot of really interesting scholarship is being done today," he said.

Carpini originally intended Jackson to come to Annenberg as a scholar in culture and communication, but Jackson's ties to anthropology raised the possibility of a secondary appointment in the Department of Anthropology, Carpini said.

He said that Jackson stands out because of his research on cutting-edge topics and is very well published and reviewed.

Provost Ron Daniels said that Jackson's combined research is representative of the interdisciplinary study which Penn hopes to facilitate.

"In his short but dazzling career ... he has really demonstrated a commitment to linking different disciplines, different ideas and different perspectives," Daniels said.

Jackson's wife, Deborah Thomas, is a also an anthropology professor and will be working at Penn next year as well.

Jackson received his Ph.D. in anthropology from Columbia University in 2000 and an undergraduate communications degree from Howard University in 1993.

He is the first of about 18 similar appointments that will be made over the next five years, said Daniels, who added that all Penn schools should eventually have at least one appointment under the program.

The professorships are funded by a $10 million donation made by Penn Trustee David Silfen earlier this year.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.