Mona Jackson

Track and Field (1990-94)
Inducted 2004

Mona Jackson had an exceptional Youngstown State track career as a sprinter and 10 years later is now close to completing her quest of earning her Ph.D. in History from Michigan State University.

The 1993-94 Vindicator Student Athlete of the Year, she set five school records – 100 meters, 200 meters and 400 meters in the outdoor and the 55 meter and 200 meter dash in indoor competition – during her senior campaign.

During the 1994 indoor season, she set a school mark and had an NCAA provisional qualifying time of 6.94 seconds in the 55 meters at the Notre Dame Invitational. She set the school record in the 200 meter dash also in February with a time of 54.12 seconds.

Her three outdoor marks still rank in the top three in school history. Jackson's mark of 11.82 seconds in the 100 meter dash set in 1994 still ranks second all time, her time of 24.20 seconds in the 200 meters set on May 14, 1994 also ranks second and in the 400, her time of 56.35 seconds established on May 20, 1994 is now third.

Jackson said some of her fondest memories were running relay events with fellow athletes. Those times of working together to ensure smooth handoffs and optimize performances that she experienced a feeling of camradeship and school pride.

She earned a degree in History from YSU, has earned a Masters of History from Ohio University and is working towards a Ph.D. in History at Michigan State University which she expects to complete in 2006.

Jackson is a doctoral candidate at Michigan State University. She is currently in South Africa working with the University of KwaZulu as part of a Fulbright Award.

Her research topic is "Amanzimtotti: The Making of an African Elite and their Strategies of Survival in Late 19th and Early 20th Century Natal."

This is her third visit to the country and will be there until June 2005. Her first trip was a stay for a year that began in August 1999. She was there on an International Pre-dissertation Fellowship that was awarded to her by the Social Science Research Council. Her second trip came in the summer of 2002 when she primarily studied the language of isiZulu.

She had won three National Competition Awards in pursuit of her doctoral degree. The pre-dissertation Fellowship of the Social Science Research Council (1999), at the Fulbright Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Award in 2004 and the Fulbright International Institute of Education Award in 2004. Because of regulations not allowing individuals to hold more than one larger national award at once, she declined the Fulbright Hays award.

She graduated from Hubbard High School after setting the school record in the 100 meter dash in 12.5 seconds. As a senior, she finished sixth in the 100 meters at the 1990 Ohio State Track and Field Championships. Mona is the daughter of Eddie and Elizabeth Jackson. Her mother earned a degree from YSU in 1990.