On December 4–5, 2009 Jackson celebrated her tenth year at RPI with a "Celebration Weekend," which featured tribute concerts by Aretha Franklin and Joshua Bell among other events. Following the weekend, the board of trustees announced they would support construction of a new guest house on Jackson's property, for the purpose of "[enabling] the presidents to receive and entertain, appropriately, Rensselaer constituents, donors, and other high-level visitors." The trustees said that "the funds for this new project would not have been available for any other purpose." William Walker, the school's Vice President of Strategic Communications and External Relations noted "The Board sees this very much as a long-term investment... for President Jackson and her successors."