A native of Tennessee, Jackson received his B.A. degree in Government and Legal Studies from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. He earned an M.A. in International Affairs from George Washington University, and an M.S. in National Resource Strategy from National Defense University, both in Washington, D.C.

 

Jackson taught English and American Civilization at the University of Clermont in Clermont-Ferrand, France. He subsequently taught French and English as a foreign language at the Institut Montana in Zugerberg, Switzerland.

 

Jackson has held a variety of posts since joining the Foreign Service in 1982: Consular/Economic Officer in Montreal, Canada; Political/Economic Officer in Bujumbura, Burundi; Chief of the Political Section in Harare, Zimbabwe; Country Officer for Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Botswana; Coordinator of the Junior Officer Training Program and Deputy Director of the Orientation Division at the Foreign Service Institute in Washington, D.C.; Political-Military Officer in Lisbon, Portugal; Political/Economic Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire; and Director of the Office for the Promotion of Human Rights and Democracy at the Department of State in Washington, D.C.

 

Jackson was subsequently named Deputy Chief of Mission and Chargé d’Affairs, ad interim, at the U.S. Embassy in Dakar, Senegal. He most recently served in that same capacity at the U.S. Embassy in Rabat, Morocco.

 

Jackson is married to Babette Pollard Jackson, a speech and language pathologist.

 

Official Biography

Statement by Robert P. Jackson before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (pdf)