Karen K Jackson
Dr. Karen Keaton Jackson earned a B.S. in English Secondary Education with summa cum laude distinction from Hampton University. She then earned her master’s and Ph.D. in English from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, with a concentration in Composition Studies and Rhetoric. In May 2015, she received a University of North Carolina Board of Governors Award for Teaching Excellence.
Her current research interests include the importance of the HBCU context when considering issues surrounding literacy, race and identity for African-American students. She has served on the executive boards of the Southeastern Writing Center Association and the Council of Writing Program Administrators and as a trustee on the National Council of Teachers of English Foundation Board. Most recently, she served as president of the Southern Regional Honors Council. She is a professor of English and director of the University Honors Program at North Carolina Central University.
Education
| Ph.D., English/Composition Studies | Wayne State University |
| M.A., English | Wayne State University |
B.S., English Secondary Education, Summa Cum Laude | Hampton University |
Professional Offices Held
Past President, Southern Regional Honors Council, 2026-27
President, Southern Regional Honors Council, 2025-26
Vice-President, Southern Regional Honors Council, 2024-25
Trustee, National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Research Foundation Board, 2020–2023
Chair, Writing Program Certificate Committee, College Composition and Communication, 2019–2020
Member, Council of Writing Program Administrators Executive Board, 2015–2018
Chair, Southeastern Writing Center Association Conference Scholarship Committee, 2013–2015
Awards and Recognitions
Recipient, UNC Board of Governors Award for Teaching Excellence, 2015
Recipient, NCCU Eagle Advocate Award, Student Disability Services Office, 2014
Recipient, NCCU Award for Teaching Excellence, 2010
Courses
Publications
- “From the Writing Center to the Honors Program: The Journey of an HBCU Director from One Space to the Next,” Writing Center Administrators as Campus Leaders, Refereed Book Collection, University Press of Colorado. Forthcoming, 2026.
- “Effectively Affective: Examining the Ethos of One HBCU Writing Center.” Co-Author with Amara Hand. Writing Center Journal (WCJ), Volume 41.3: 2023. pp. 38-54. Measuring Everyday Life: Talking About Research and Why It Matters, Co-Editor with Brian G. Southwell and Bridget Pittman-Blackwell. RTI Press, 2022.
- “Coach Prime and Me: Deion Sanders’ Impact on my Academic Self,” Praxis: A Writing Center Journal. Column. Vol. 19.1: 2022. https://www.praxisuwc.com/191-keaton-jackson
- “Paying It Forward by Looking Back,” Co-Author, Learning from the Lived Experiences of Graduate Student Writers, Refereed Book Collection, Utah State University Press, 2020.
- “We Belong in the Discussion: Including HBCUs in Conversations About Race and Writing,” Co-Author, College Composition and Communication, December 2019
- “A State of Permanent Transition: Strategies for WPA Survival in an Ever-present Marginal Space,” WPAs in Transition, Refereed Book Collection, Utah State, University Press, 2018.
- “Writing Center Administrators and Diversity: A Survey,” Co-Authored with Sarah Banschbach Valles and Rebecca Babcock, The Peer Review. Spring 2017.
- International Writing Center Association, Publisher. https://thepeerreview-iwca.org/issues/issue-1/writing-center-administrators-and-diversity-a-survey/
- “The Obama Effect: Using a Culturally Relevant Pedagogy at a Historically African-American University.” Reading African American Experiences in the Obama Era: Theory, Advocacy, and Activism. Refereed Book Collection, Peter Lang Publishing, 2012.