Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, has announced that she will retire in June 2022. Dr. Jackson usually ranks at or near the top in rankings of the highest-paid college presidents in the country.
“It has been the privilege and honor of my professional career to serve as president of Rensselaer,” President Jackson said in her message to the campus. “Throughout my tenure, the Institute has transformed into a vibrant community, with significant investments in new and existing academic, research, and residential facilities.”
Dr. Jackson was chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 1995 to 1999. She then left government service to take over as the 18th president of RPI in 1999. In 2016, Dr. Jackson was awarded the National Medal of Science from President Barack Obama.
Dr. Jackson holds a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. in theoretical elementary particle physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She was the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in any discipline from MIT.