CHAMPAIGN — Chancellor Robert J. Jones will serve as the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Commencement speaker at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, May 17, in Memorial Stadium. Jones became the 10th chancellor of the university in 2016 and has presided over the second-longest tenure in that position since it was created in the 1960s.
Jones announced last November that he would be ending his time as chancellor at Illinois. He will assume the role of the 34th president of the University of Washington on Aug. 1. He is the first African American scholar to lead either institution.
“It has been the honor of a lifetime to be a part of the Illinois family and truly the most profound experience of my 46 years in higher education,” Jones said. “I can’t think of a better way to draw my time as chancellor to a close than celebrating our remarkable 2025 graduates as they take what they’ve learned at Illinois and go on to change the world.”
During his leadership at Illinois, Jones prioritized redefining the role of a flagship land-grant institution for the 21st century. As a champion of affordable and accessible higher education, Jones helped launch Illinois Commitment, a program guaranteeing four years of free tuition for in-state students of families earning less than $75,000.
He led the university’s COVID-19 pandemic response, which included harnessing the university’s collective research and scientific expertise in the creation of the SHIELD saliva-based testing program and ecosystem.
He also oversaw the creation of the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, the world’s first engineering-based medical school.
Additionally, Jones sought to position the university and the state as the center of industries that will define the future. He was selected by Gov. JB Pritzker to co-chair the Innovate Illinois partnership, while fostering collaborations with the University of Chicago and Northwestern University to launch initiatives like the Chicago Quantum Exchange and the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Chicago — with Illinois at the forefront of those efforts.
“To confront the biggest, most complex challenges of our time, we must engage new partners and rethink traditional approaches to research,” Jones said. “These radical collaborations are ambitious, and they are how we imagine an even bigger role for a land-grant university in the 21st century.”
Jones, a native of the state of Georgia, earned a bachelor’s degree 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.
Jones began his academic career as a faculty member at the University of Minnesota in 1978, where he spent more than three decades as an internationally respected expert in plant physiology and a nationally recognized university administrator. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of both the American Society of Agronomy and the Crop Science Society of America.
Jones forged a respected career in higher education leadership and held numerous prominent positions, including chair of the Association of American Universities Board of Directors, chair of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities Board of Directors and chair of the Big Ten Council of Chancellors and Presidents. He previously served as president of the University at Albany and held several leadership roles at the University of Minnesota.
For more information regarding the universitywide Commencement ceremony — including Memorial Stadium’s clear-bag policy, student regalia and parking for the event — visit commencement.illinois.edu.
