Jackie Brousseau-Pereira Receives 2025 Dean’s Service Award

Content

Jackie Brousseau-Pereira, Academic Dean and Director of First Year Seminars in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences (SBS), has been named the recipient of the 2025 Dean’s Service Award. This annual honor recognizes exceptional service, leadership, and impact within the college. The award, presented by Dean R. Karl Rethemeyer, includes a commemorative plaque and a $1,000 prize.

Known affectionately to students as “Dean Jackie,” Brousseau-Pereira holds one of the most challenging and consequential roles in the college. She is the person students turn to in moments of triumph, as when seeking a dean’s letter for a military commission, graduate school application, or international opportunity. She is also available in moments of profound uncertainty, when academic standing, personal hardship, or crisis threaten to derail a student’s education.

“It takes incredible care and compassion to help students who are at their lowest moment at the University and often in their entire young lives,” said Dean Rethemeyer. “I’ve seen Jackie work with students in crisis; she addresses them with a deep concern for the well-being of their whole selves.”

In addition to her emotional intelligence and steady guidance, Brousseau-Pereira brings unmatched expertise in academic policy and procedure. Her knowledge of institutional systems, her expansive campus network, and her collaborative leadership style make her an indispensable asset not only to SBS, but to the broader UMass Amherst community.

“Jackie is an incredible team player,” Rethemeyer added, “contributing not just to SBS but the entire student support enterprise across the University.”

Whether advocating for a struggling student, advising a new colleague, or coordinating support across campus departments, Brousseau-Pereira is widely recognized for her clarity, calm, and unwavering dedication to student success. Her work spans the personal and the procedural, and her impact reaches countless students, staff, and faculty alike.

The Dean’s Service Award recognizes individuals who exemplify the values of SBS: academic excellence, community engagement, and inclusive support for all students, faculty, and staff. In honoring Brousseau-Pereira, Dean Rethemeyer emphasized the extraordinary balance she strikes between compassion and accountability, empathy and expertise.

“In every aspect of her role, Jackie sets the standard for what student support should look like,” he said.