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Wendy Eley Jackson, a native of Atlanta, brings extensive experience in film and television as the theater department’s new artist/scholar-in-residence for justice, reconciliation, and diversity, teaching for the theater and English departments this fall.

“I hope to find a happy marriage between the written word, the actors and the production crew that brings great storytelling to life,” she says. “Story has the ability to build bridges of empathy, understanding and respect, helping make sense of our lives and the world around us. My goal is to help students develop their stories as expressed through theater and the written word to inspire social impact.”

Jackson graduated from UC Berkeley and earned an MFA in screenwriting at the University of Georgia. She serves as CEO of Auburn Avenue Films, a production company specializing in entertainment that raises social awareness and encourages audiences to participate in social change.

“As our world becomes more complex and challenging, scholars, artists, educators and industry leaders realize the value of faith-based media and social-impact entertainment,” she says, “not just in terms of moving and changing people’s everyday lives, but in telling powerful stories and doing good in life.”

Her experience ranges from made-for-television movies for TriStar/Columbia Pictures Television, to advertising and marketing with Turner Entertainment Networks, to developing television pilots for major networks. She won a Producers Guild of America Award for her work on the feature-length documentary “Maynard,” exploring the life and legacy of Atlanta’s first black mayor. She is the executive producer of the documentary “Welcome to Pine Lake” and is in post-production for the documentaries “Her Inescapable Brave Mission” and “Counting the Ballots.”

“I hope to bring my faith into my teaching by example,” she says. “This means always leading interactions with kindness; nurturing and devel­oping a new generation of diverse artists, industry leaders and execu­tives aligned with the teachings of Jesus the Christ; and being united in the pursuit of new creative work and research that makes a difference in the world.”