Dr. Robert Jones
Chancellor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Dr. Robert Jones is the chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Robert earned his bachelor's in agronomy from Fort Valley State College, a master’s in crop physiology from the University of Georgia, and a doctorate in crop physiology from the University of Missouri, Columbia. He has served as chancellor of UIUC since 2016. Additionally, he serves on the Board of Directors of APLU, Campus Compact, the Farm Foundation, and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center.
Before becoming chancellor of the UIUC, Dr. Jones held multiple roles in higher education. Dr. Jones has meaningfully impacted the institutions he has worked at, with a focus on making higher education accessible and affordable for young scholars around the world. While Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of Minnesota, for example, he helped establish the nation's first Urban Research and Outreach/Engagement Center (UROC), which is named in his honor.
Dr. Jones is respected for his mastery of plant physiology, authoring numerous publications and research on a variety of crops and continuing to teach at Urbana’s Department of Crop Sciences, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES).