Dear Members of the UW Community,
It is my pleasure to introduce Robert J. Jones, Chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, as the next President of the University of Washington. Chancellor Jones is an accomplished, visionary leader who has risen through the faculty at outstanding state universities and the Board of Regents is thrilled that this summer he will become the UW’s 34th president and the first African American to serve in that role.
The son of sharecroppers from Georgia, Chancellor Jones is a distinguished agronomist with a deep scholarly record. Since 2016, he has served as the 10th Chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, one of the nation’s leading research universities and, like the UW, a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities.
At Illinois, his signal achievements include providing a transformative learning experience to students, with a focus on affordability for students of modest means; launching innovative partnerships to catalyze scholarship, discovery and innovation; centering the University’s community and public impact; fostering an inclusive and welcoming environment; and successfully pursuing resources and strategic investments.
Jones has prioritized making education accessible and affordable through the Illinois Commitment, a program that guarantees four years of free tuition to Illinois residents with family incomes less than $75,000. During his chancellorship, the university’s enrollment has grown, setting a record in fall 2024 with more than 59,000 students enrolled.
Under Jones’ leadership, Illinois opened the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, the first engineering-based medical school in the world, in partnership with Carle Health. He has launched strategic “radical collaborations” such as the Chicago Quantum Exchange initiative which is establishing Illinois at the center of quantum sciences and information in the nation, in partnership with the University of Chicago. Another collaboration is the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago, created in partnership with the University of Chicago and Northwestern University – an unprecedented initiative that seeks to redefine how we understand human biology.
Jones was selected by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker to serve as co-vice chair of the Innovate Illinois initiative to coordinate the state’s efforts to secure critical federal research investments, which sparked support for the Illinois Fermentation and Agricultural Biomanufacturing Hub. He has built industry partnerships through the university’s Research Park and its EnterpriseWorks incubator, elevated the university’s research and technology transfer capacity through participation in initiatives such as the C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute, and expanded the university’s international reach.
In 2017, Jones and the university launched a $2.25 billion philanthropic campaign that reached its goal fifteen months early, concluding in 2022 after raising $2.7 billion to support university priorities. He also launched and implemented Operational Excellence, a multi-year, comprehensive, university-wide effort to reorganize and reimagine ways to deliver the university’s missions more efficiently and with the most impact.
Prior to his current role, Chancellor Jones served as the 19th President of the University at Albany, State University of New York, part of the largest comprehensive higher education system in the United States. Beginning his presidency in 2013, he initiated the university’s largest academic expansion in half a century, adding academic units and degree-granting programs, expanding opportunities for faculty research and student experiential learning, deepening the university’s community engagement, and raising philanthropic support for this vision.
Chancellor Jones began his career at the University of Minnesota as an assistant professor on the Twin Cities campus in 1978, receiving tenure in 1983 and a full professorship in 1988. He took on his first leadership role in 1986, when the president of the University of Minnesota charged him with creating a mentoring program for high-achieving students of color. He subsequently became an Associate Provost and Assistant Vice President, before becoming Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Personnel from 1997 to 2002, while concurrently serving as Interim Vice President for Student Development in 2000–01 and Vice President for Campus Life in 2001–02, and Vice President and Executive Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Programs on the Twin Cities campus from 2002–05. In 2004, he became Senior Vice President for Academic Administration for the University of Minnesota system, the senior academic, administrative and operating officer reporting to the system president.
Chancellor Jones is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the Association of American Universities Board of Directors, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities Council of Presidents, and the Executive Committee of the Big Ten Conference Council of Presidents and Chancellors. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Fort Valley State College, a master’s degree from the University of Georgia and a doctorate from the University of Missouri.
I would like to thank the members of the UW community whose perspectives helped to shape the Leadership Profile, as well as SP&A Executive Search for building an experienced, accomplished and diverse pool of candidates and the members of the Presidential Search Advisory Committee for their participation in a robust, fair and successful search process.
The Board of Regents looks forward to working with this tireless, eminent steward of public higher education to develop a vision to inspire the University of Washington to ever greater, ever more transformative pursuit of its public mission. I know the UW community will join me in welcoming Chancellor Jones and his wife, Dr. Lynn Hassan Jones, a muscular skeletal diagnostic radiologist, as they become part of our University of Washington community!
Yours,
Blaine Tamaki, Chair
University of Washington Board of Regents