Robert Jones has been named the thirty-fourth president of the University of Washington. His appointment makes him the institution’s first Black president in the university’s 164-year history. Dr. Jones will assume his presidency on August 1, following his nine-year tenure as the first African American chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
The University of Washington’s main campus in Seattle enrolls nearly 40,000 undergraduate students and 16,000 graduate students, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Black students represent just 3 percent of the undergraduate population.
Over the course of Dr. Jones’ tenure at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the institution’s enrollment has grown by 26 percent; established a new College of Medicine, School of Computing and Data Science, and Center for Design; and completed a $2.7 billion fundraising campaign.
From 2013 to 2016, Dr. Jones served as the nineteenth president of the University at Albany, an institution within the State University of New York system. Earlier in his career, he spent 34 years as a faculty member and administrator with the University of Minnesota. Throughout his long career in academia, Dr. Jones has conducted extensive research on crop physiology.
“I am honored to be joining the University of Washington and excited to lead this extraordinary public university in its mission serving students, families, and communities across Washington and beyond,” said Dr. Jones. “The UW is globally renowned as a home of outstanding teaching, research, innovation, and patient care. I look forward to working with the UW’s talented and dedicated faculty and staff to support and accelerate their work, and to partnering with the UW’s supporters to advance students’ success, economic opportunity, and discovery for the public good.”
An HBCU graduate, Dr. Jones received his bachelor’s degree in agronomy from Fort Valley State University 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.
Congratulations!!