The University of Washington Board of Regents announced Monday that Robert J. Jones will become the 34th President of the University of Washington. Jones, ending a nine-year tenure as Chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, will begin his five-year contract on August 1.
Jones will become the first African American to serve in the role, according to the 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,” Jones wrote in the announcement.
President Ana Mari Cauce announced last year that she would step down from the role she held for a decade.
“His inspiring and barrier- breaking personal journey, highly regarded scholarship and decades of transformative leadership convinced us that Chancellor Jones is the ideal person to build upon President Ana Mari Cauce’s legacy,” Board of Regents Chair Blaine Tamaki said in the announcement.
Jones, who has served at the University of Illinois since 2016, said his priorities include focusing on affordability for students and making education accessible.
He also served as the President of the University at Albany from 2013-2016, which will make his UW presidency his third post leading a public research university. At Albany, he added academic units and degree-granting programs and expanded faculty research opportunities and student learning.
