Shannon Jackson (ΦBK, Stanford University), the Cyrus and Michelle Hadidi Professor of the Arts & Humanities, Department Chair of History of Art, and former Associate Vice Chancellor for the Arts + Design at UC Berkeley, is one of 13 prominent scholars in the arts and sciences selected to serve as ΦBK Visiting Scholars during the 2025-2026 academic year.
Professor Jackson’s research and teaching focus on the role of visual, literary, performance, and media art forms in social movements and in public life, with a recent emphasis on ecological aesthetics. Jackson has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including from the Mellon Foundation and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. She is a frequent speaker at museums, theaters, biennials, festivals, and universities around the world and serves on the advisory boards of several organizations.
As a ΦBK Visiting Scholar, Jackson’s year-long tour includes Colorado College, Dickinson College, Goucher College, Providence College, Rockford University, SUNY Geneseo, UC Irvine, and Wheaton College. She spends two days on each campus, meets with students and faculty, participates in classroom discussions, and gives a lecture that is free and open to the public.
Having already visited five schools this fall, Jackson offered this statement reflecting on her experience to date:
“How incredible to be a Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar in the same year that the Society celebrates its 250th anniversary—and the same year that our country celebrates its 250th birthday. As someone who thinks about the arts in relation to public life, this couldn’t be a more propitious moment. What is the role of the arts in relation to free expression? How do the arts sensitize us to democratic values? In my visits to several colleges so far this year, it turns out that students and faculty have deep and complex answers to those questions. It has been a privilege to share my historical work as well as thoughts about our current cultural moment. I’ve learned so much from this experience thus far, and I know that I’ll learn more as my visits continue to more colleges and universities throughout our country. Deepest thanks to the Phi Beta Kappa Society for this opportunity.”
L-R: Nicholas Longo, Professor and Department Chair of Global Studies at Providence College; Visiting Scholar Shannon Jackson; Perla Castillo, Director of the Center at Moore Hall; Isabelle Camoin, ’26, Providence College student, in front of one of the campus DID walls provided by the College’s Dialogue, Inclusion, and Democracy Lab.
Joan R. Branham, Associate Provost for Faculty Affairs and Phi Beta Kappa Chapter President at Providence College, said, “Dr. Jackson’s engaging presentation on ‘Arts, Democracy, and the Public Life’ not only highlighted the ways in which art acts as an agent for social change in society, but perfectly aligned with Phi Beta Kappa’s 250th anniversary, where we examine the relationship and founding of democracy in this country with the founding of the Phi Beta Kappa’s commitment to the liberal arts.”
Learn more about this year’s ΦBK Visiting Scholars at pbk.org/VisitingScholars or contact Hadley Kelly, Senior Director of Academic Outreach & Programs, at hkelly@pbk.org.