Speaker: Jackie Counts

Jackie is a native Kansan from Bob Dole Country.  After living on the West Coast, Jackie Counts knew she wanted to get back to the heartland, and wanted to land in a place that valued free-thinking and had a university feel.  She’d been to Lawrence once for an Apartheid protest in college.  Bruce, her husband, convinced her that it was a cool place and that they should give it a whirl.  So, they packed up with a new baby, no place to live, and no jobs and landed in Lawrence in 1993. Today, Jackie is the Director of the Center for Public Partnerships and Public Service at the University of Kansas Achievement and Assessment Institute. In her work and personal life, she pushes boundaries to stretch thinking about what is possible and tries to persuade others to join her on the journey.