1-on-1 with Washington president Robert J. Jones
UW's new president discusses the role of athletics, the budget, the stalled Big Ten Enterprises proposal and more.
Robert J. Jones grew up the son of sharecroppers in Georgia. He studied agronomy at Fort Valley State and earned his master’s (from the University of Georgia) and his doctorate (from the University of Missouri) in crop physiology.
He spent more than three decades as a professor and administrator at the University of Minnesota before becoming president at the State University of New York at Albany, and, in 2016, chancellor at the University of Illinois, where he was chair of the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors when the league added Washington and Oregon in August 2023.
This August, he began his tenure as the University of Washington’s new president, succeeding Ana Mari Cauce, who stepped down this summer after 10 years in the position.
What compelled Jones, after nearly a decade guiding the Urbana-Champaign campus, to pursue the presidential opening at the University of Washington?
What is his perspective on the athletic department’s budgetary challenges? What was his opinion of Washington in the context of Big Ten expansion? His view of the now-stalled Big Ten Enterprises proposal?
Earlier this month, I met with Jones over Zoom for about 25 minutes. Below is a transcript of our interview, lightly edited for length and clarity. Questions are in bold.