Levi Brandenburg
Contributing Writer
[email protected]

President Bob Jackson became the first member of Murray State’s Epsilon Lambda Chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha to receive the fraternity’s highest honor. 

Jackson was named a distinguished alumnus and inducted into the Order of West Range, a lifetime achievement award that is given to alumni for service to society and accomplishments in their careers, according to a press release. 

“I am honored and grateful for this recognition,” Jackson said. “I am being recognized as part of an outstanding group and there are many others who are very deserving of this honor, but I am very appreciative of this award.  Pi Kappa Alpha has been an important part of my life and it helped to shape my undergraduate education at Murray State University, develop leadership skills and make lifelong friends, and most importantly, allowed me to meet my wife, Karen.”

Before serving as president and interim president, Jackson was a Kentucky state senator from 1997 to 2004. During this time, he served on a number of committees from economic development to education and capital projects. 

He has also worked in corporate finance and as a senior executive in investment banking, investment management and municipal finance, according to the press release.

Jackson joins 151 distinguished alumni of Pi Kappa Alpha to have received this award. Other notables include Country music singer Tim McGraw, president of the New Orleans Saints Dennis Lauscha and Senator Strom Thurmond, according to the Pi Kappa Alpha website. 

The international fraternity was founded in 1868 at the University of Virginia.