Robert J. Jones

Robert James Jones (born 1951) is an American crop physiologist who has been the 34th president of the University of Washington since August 2025.

He served as the 10th chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign from September 2016 to June 2025 and as the 19th president of the State University of New York at Albany from January 2013 to September 2016.

Education Jones received a bachelor's degree in agronomy from Fort Valley State College in Georgia, a master's degree in crop physiology from the University of Georgia, and a doctorate in crop physiology from the University of Missouri.

Career University of Minnesota Jones worked at the University of Minnesota for 34 years in many positions: a professor in agronomy and plant genetics, executive vice provost, and senior vice president for academic administration from 2004 to 2013. The University of Minnesota's Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center was named after Jones.

State University of New York at Albany Following his career at the University of Minnesota, Jones served as the president of the State University of New York at Albany from 2013 to 2016. During his tenure, he created the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Based upon a police report at the time, Jones firmly declared in a public announcement that "early this morning, three of our students were harassed and assaulted while riding a bus in Albany. I am deeply concerned, saddened and angry about this incident. There is no place in the UAlbany community for violence, no place for racial intolerance and no place for gender violence.". Later video evidence showed that the trio was not assaulted and were instead aggressors in the incident. Students and observers criticized Jones as rushing to judgement,

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign On July 19, 2016, Jones was named the 10th chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, with approval of the Board of Trustees at its July 21 meeting. With his chancellorship appointment, Jones also received a tenured faculty position at the Department of Crop Sciences at the College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. subsequently becoming president of the University of Washington.

Personal life Jones is married to Lynn Hassan Jones, a musculoskeletal diagnostic radiologist doctor of medicine, and they have five children and grandchildren. Jones was a tenor singer in Sounds of Blackness, a vocal ensemble from the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area that sings gospel, soul, and R&B.