Prof. Rick Jackson retiring after 34 years with QSB
He has a big title: Associate Professor and Commerce ’64 Faculty Teaching Fellow in Organizational Behaviour. He’s been awarded the highest teaching honours Queen’s students and graduates can bestow. Perhaps he felt his work here was done. Or perhaps the lure of his rowing shell on Whitefish Lake has become too strong to resist.
“It’s been a wonderful ride,” says Rick Jackson, MBA’71, of his 34 years as a Labour Relations and Negotiations Professor, as well as stints as Commerce Program Chair and Associate Dean. “And receiving the Frank Knox Award for Excellence in Teaching* from the Alma Mater Society in April was a much appreciated retirement gift.”
This latest honour is one of many he has received over the years. Also the recipient of the Queen’s University Alumni Association Award for Teaching Excellence in 2006, he has been recognized by the Commerce Society a record 10 times, for both his teaching excellence and contribution to student life.
As touched as he is by each and every award, what means even more to Rick are the letters from former students in support of his nominations. “There are few individuals I have encountered who have left such a deep impression in my life,” wrote one. “He is a firm believer that all students are capable of great things, and it is to this end that he will work tirelessly for anyone at any time,” wrote another. Several letters echoed the traits that most impressed: his integrity, his passion for his subject, his compassion for his students. One writer confessed, “I took a course in Negotiations at the Harvard Business School during my MBA program… It paled in comparison to Rick Jackson’s undergraduate course at Queen’s.”
Another common observation was how supportive Rick has been of student initiatives. “(In the 1990s) he was widely known to be one of the most steadfast and loyal supporters of student initiatives on campus,” read another testimonial. A tribute at the 30th anniversary ICBC (Intercollegiate Business Competition) in January recognized Rick’s ceaseless support of this renowned event. At his side, and also recognized for her contributions as a case writer, sat Moira, his wife of 42 years.
Less well known is the role Rick played in saving Frosh Week in 1990-91. Orientation week hijinks had gotten so out of hand that the University was considering cancelling it altogether, when Rick accepted the challenging role of Chair of an Ad Hoc Senate Committee on Orientation. His committee, comprised mostly of students, worked for an entire year on a massive mediation and communications exercise and managed to convince the Queen’s student body of the need for substantive changes to Orientation. Seventeen years later, Frosh Week continues to instill in new students that inimitable and formidable Queen’s pride.
Rick’s connection with ‘his’ students continues long after their graduation. At several Queen’s Business Clubs and Branch events in the past 18months, alumni came out in droves to hear Rick speak. His presentation – “Reflections on a Career in Teaching and Dispute Resolution” – was true to form: dryly witty, self-deprecating, thought-provoking and occasionally profound. Few were surprised that his PowerPoint included a video clip of his hero, Franklin Roosevelt.
As Rick packed up his office in December, his contributions to the School were remembered: his membership on University task forces, committees and panels too numerous to mention, his articles and cases, and his contribution to the labour relations literature. As his friends at the School bid him farewell, perhaps they’ll salute him with a chorus of Solidarity Forever – the labour movement’s anthem – a nod to Rick’s longtime habit of forcing his Commerce 181 class to listen to Pete Seeger and the Weavers’ version of that inspiring song.
While Rick may have left the building, his legions of his fans hope that this is just ‘au revoir’ and not goodbye. ICBC wouldn’t be the same without a Rick Jackson labour relations case to dissect.
*To read more about Rick’s Frank Knox Award, see the NewsBlog on the QSB website.