The board of governors of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education named Geraldine M. Jones as president of California University of Pennsylvania. The university, located south of Pittsburgh, enrolls 6,000 undergraduate students and nearly 2,000 graduate students. African Americans make up 11 percent of the undergraduate student body.
Jones was named acting president of the university in 2012, after serving for nearly four years as provost and vice president for academic affairs. She was named interim president in 2013 and served in the role for three years before being named as the permanent president. Jones first came to California University of Pennsylvania in 1974 as the director of the Upward Bound program.
In accepting the appointment as permanent president, Jones said that “California University has been my lifetime passion. Since my first days on campus as a student, it has been a special place to me. I have dedicated my professional career to the university, and look forward to continuing to work on its behalf and on behalf of the students, faculty and staff, to do the best I can to help ensure Cal U.’s success long into the future.”
Jones holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from California University of Pennsylvania.
