Vice Chancellor for Business and Finance Christine Jackson, whose leadership pointed the University of Nebraska-Lincoln through nearly two decades of far-reaching progress, has announced she will retire at the end of 2017.

“My time at Nebraska has been such a wonderful experience, and I will cherish the memories forever,” Jackson wrote in an email to staff in the Office of Business and Finance. “I truly am honored to be part of such an outstanding family at Nebraska, and I wish you and our university continued success in the future.”

Jackson is responsible for the facilities construction and management, accounting, human resources, security and auxiliary business services associated with the university’s budget, which supports 26,000 students and more than 6,000 faculty and staff.

Hired in 2000 by then-Chancellor James Moeser, Jackson has overseen more than $1.3 billion in campus and university-related construction projects during her tenure. She also helped guide the university through more than a dozen rounds of cuts to its budget, the first occurring in 2002 and to date having totaled more than $56 million.

“Christine Jackson is an esteemed leader who has helped to usher the university through profound change over the past two decades,” Chancellor Ronnie Green said. “Her range of expertise and commitment to excellence is something that we have come to depend upon. It is an understatement to say that she will be greatly missed by everyone at Nebraska.”

Prior to her appointment at Nebraska in 2000, Jackson held chief financial positions at Cleveland State University and Oklahoma State University. In addition, she held financial positions at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Southern California and Hope College.

She is a member of the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) NCAA Professional Development Advisory Committee, the NACUBO Awards Council, and is program coordinator of the Central Association of College and University Business Officers RCB Capital Markets Best Practices Program.

She has been a member of the NACUBO board of directors, is former chair of the Council of Business Officers of the National Association of State and Land Grant Colleges and Universities, past president of Central Assocition of College and University Business Officers and president of the Ohio Association of College and University Business Officers.

Jackson earned her bachelor’s degree from Hope College and her master’s of business administration from Western Michigan University.

A national search for her successor will begin immediately, Green said.