​With a strong passion for mathematics, Dr. Deborah Jackson pursued a career in which she can educate and promote mathematics among students. She began her career at Monash University in the early 1980s and has worked with the institution in different roles since then. She had been a student at the university and had earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1978, and a Ph.D. in 1981 in the area of Semigroup Theory. In addition, she received an Associate in Music from the Australian Music Exam Board in 1986, and a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education from LaTrobe University in 2013. Since 1983, she has been a Reviewer for Mathematical Reviews, published by the American Mathematical Society, Ann Arbor, Michigan, in the area of Semigoups.
 
Dr. Deborah Jackson received a Commonwealth Postgraduate Research Award (1979-1981) and an Australian Commonwealth University scholarship in 1973. In 2015, in recognition of her work, she received both a College Citation and a University Citation for outstanding contribution to student learning from La Trobe University. She stays active in the mathematics and education community, being a member of the Mathematics Association of America, Victorian Algebra Group (which she chaired from 1996-2003), Australasian Association Engineering Education, Statistical Society of Australia, Institute of Mathematical Statistics, American Mathematical Society and Australian Mathematical Society.