Jones, the president of the University at Albany-SUNY, is the first Black chancellor of the university’s flagship campus and called his new role his “dream job.”
“A distinguished scholar in the agricultural sciences, and a thoughtful and visionary leader in public higher education, with an exemplary record of accomplishment as a sitting university president for a research-intensive public university, he is simply ideally qualified to lead our institution into the future,” Killeen said.
Jones, who has been at SUNY since 2013 after spending 34 years at the University of Minnesota, will also be the vice president of the University of Illinois system, which also includes campuses in Chicago and Springfield.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in agronomy from Fort Valley State College, a master’s degree in crop physiology from the University of Georgia and a doctorate in crop physiology from the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Jones takes over for interim Chancellor Barbara Wilson, who held the job since Phyllis Wise resigned in August amid a series of problems on campus. Those included the firing of football coach Tim Beckman over alleged mistreatment of players and her own use of private emails to discuss university business.
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