University of Washington names its next president

Robert J. Jones, chancellor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign , will be the University of Washington’s next president.

When he assumes office in August, he will be the first Black president in the university’s 164-year history. He will succeed Ana Mari Cauce, the first woman, Latina and openly gay person to lead the university. 

“I am honored to be joining the University of Washington and excited to lead this extraordinary public university,” Jones, 73, said in a release from UW. “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.” 

UW’s Board of Regents began the search for a new president after Cauce announced she’d be stepping down from the position and returning to the university’s faculty. They culled from a list of several dozen candidates. Negotiations with Jones and another finalist began last month. Jones’ identity was kept secret until the university’s announcement Monday. 

The son of sharecroppers, Jones has spent his entire career in higher education.

In announcing Jones’ appointment, the UW Board of Regents said he has the academic and leadership experience necessary for the job. He began his career as a crop physiology professor at the University of Minnesota, contributing research on the environmental stressors affecting corn. Over the course of three decades, he rose through the ranks to serve as senior vice president for academic administration. 

 His first experience leading an institution was in 2013 when he became president of the Albany campus of the State University of New York. 

At UW, he will steer the state’s largest university system, becoming a key player in the state’s economy. His decisions will echo across the university’s academic research, medical facilities and athletic department. Jones will be paid $985,000 annually. 

Jones comes to the university at a time when UW is growing more racially diverse. According to university officials, 1 out of every 5 freshmen on the 52,000-student Seattle campus identifies with a racial demographic that is historically underrepresented on college campuses.

Under Jones’ leadership in Illinois, the university opened the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, the first engineering-based medical school in the world. He was also in charge of launching the Illinois Commitment, which guarantees free tuition for any Illinois resident accepted to the university whose family income is below $75,000. He also oversaw the university’s largest philanthropic campaign, which raised $2.7 billion.

Late last year, he announced he was stepping down after nine years in the role. 

“Urbana-Champaign has … grown its capacity for research with economic and societal impact and been a major contributor to the health of our people throughout the state,” Donald J. Edward, the chair of Illinois’ board of trustees, said after Jones announced his resignation. “I have had no greater pride in this university than knowing that under Chancellor Jones’ leadership, Urbana-Champaign played such a pivotal role in steering our state through the pandemic.” 

During his tenure at SUNY Albany, the school opened the nation’s first college of emergency preparedness, homeland security and cybersecurity and the region’s first public engineering college, aimed at students who can’t afford private education. 

“I believe he will lead us into our next chapter of providing educational excellence at scale, top-quality health care to all, regardless of need, transformative research, and public service to the state of Washington and the world,” said Blaine Tamaki, chair of the Board of Regents.

Several members of the UW faculty said they were still processing the announcement Monday. Since the search began last spring, some of the university’s more vocal professors criticized what they say was a lack of faculty involvement in the search for a new president. 

“Everyone, I’m sure, will be hopeful, and it’s always good to start with the benefit of the doubt,” said Amy Hagopian, secretary of UW’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, which has argued for more transparency in the search process. “But we should’ve been involved with the decision.” 

Faculty and students are required to serve on the governing boards of Washington’s public colleges and universities. However, many institutions, including UW, have excluded them from voting on matters related to hiring university presidents, citing an exemption in the law.  

State Rep. Gerry Pollet, D-Seattle, a UW faculty member, says this interpretation is incorrect. Unhappy with the secretive process that led to Jones’ hiring, he introduced a bill last month that would require public colleges and universities to disclose the finalists for presidents before their hiring, but it is still far away from a full vote of the Legislature.

“I will continue to seek to ensure greater openness and that faculty and student Regents are not barred in the future from full participation and voting on the most important decisions made by the Regents — choosing a president,” Pollet wrote in a text message on Monday.  

Washington State University in Pullman is also expected to announce its new president soon. Late last month, the university announced that it had decided on a preferred finalist.