Craig L. Jackson Jr.

Craig L. Jackson, Jr. serves as Associate Vice President of Development and Principal Gifts at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He oversees unit fundraisers for eight colleges at UNLV (Business, Engineering, Education, Hospitality, Urban Affairs, Fine Arts, Sciences, and Liberal Arts). Before he arrived at UNLV, Craig served as Senior Director of Development for the College of Engineering at UC Davis and the lead fundraiser for the UC Davis Coffee Center, the first of its kind in the country. Additionally, Craig writes and presents on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and its application in the business practice for development and alumni relations.

Craig began his career in advancement as a Clarence J. Jupiter fellow. This honor is bestowed by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), which is the professional organization for fundraising professionals in higher education. He received this honor as an undergraduate student at Upper Iowa University, a private liberal arts college in Iowa. Given this honor, Craig was recruited to the University of Kansas (KU) to serve as a Graduate Assistant at KU Endowment, where he worked to engage alumni of color in the university’s philanthropic efforts.

Craig possesses an extensive and robust career in advancement, serving in major gift positions at Oklahoma State University Foundation, Arizona State University (ASU), and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign before accepting his previous role at UC Davis. At UC Davis, he served as co-chair of the DEI Committee for the division of development and alumni relations. In addition to his work as co-chair of DEVAR’s DEI committee, Craig serves as an advisor on DEI issues to the Dean of the School of Education at the University of Kansas and on the Dean’s National Advisory Board.

Craig holds a bachelor’s degree from Upper Iowa University, a master’s degree from the University of Kansas, and an Ed.D. from ASU in Leadership and Innovation. His scholarly research focuses on how predominately white organizations can prepare managers to enact diversity and inclusion policies and procedures to improve diverse and marginalized employees’ professional experiences. Craig is a proud member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.