Robert Jones, the first African American chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has announced he will step down at the end of the current academic year.
Since assuming his role nine years ago, Dr. Jones has overseen a 26 percent increase in enrollment at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. This year, the university had a record 59,238 students. During his tenure, Dr. Jones led the university through the establishment of the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science, and the Siebel Center for Design. He also guided the university through its largest philanthropic campaign that raised a total of $2.7 billion.
Prior to joining the University of Illinois community, Dr. Jones spent three years as president of the University at Albany of the State University of New York System. Earlier in his career, he spent 34 years in faculty and administrative posts at the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Jones received his bachelor’s degree in agronomy from Fort Valley State University, a historically Black educational institution in Georgia. He holds a master’s degree in crop physiology from the University of Georgia and a doctorate in crop physiology from the University of Missouri.
