James F. Jones (educator)

James F. Jones Jr. (born April 9, 1947) is an American liberal arts educator. His posts have included being Dean of Dedman College and Vice Provost of Southern Methodist University, President of Kalamazoo College, President of Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and President of Sweet Briar College. In a mediation agreement, he stepped down on July 2, 2015.

Education

While at University of Virginia he was assistant director of the Virginia Glee Club.

Career

Jones commenced his teaching career teaching honors French and honors Latin while being Chair of the Department of Foreign Languages at Woodward Academy from 1969 to 1972 (reference - Woodward Academy Records)

From 1975 to 1991 he served on the faculty of Washington University in St. Louis where he was granted tenure, promoted to full professor and was Chair of the Department of Romance Languages and Literature. He was the founding Director of the Summer Language Institute in France, a position he held for a decade (reference - Washington University Records). While at Washington University he received the Palmes Academique from the French Government in 1986 (reference - St. Louis Post-Dispatch archives). In 1988 he was appointed Senior Visitor to the Taylorian Institute and to the University at Oxford (reference - Oxford University Records and St. Louis Post-Dispatched archives)

In the fall of 1991 Jones assumed the positions of Dean of Dedman College and Vice Provost of Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas. He held these positions for five years (reference - Southern Methodist University Records).

Jones was named President of Kalamazoo College in Michigan in 1996. During his eight years at Kalamazoo College the college raised $86 million in new gifts (reference - Kalamazoo College Records).

Jones assumed the role of President and Trinity College Professor in the Humanities at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut on July 1, 2004. During his tenure the college raised $369 million (reference - Trinity College Records, Cornerstone and Legacy Campaigns) Concerned by Trinity College gaining a reputation as a party school and slipping in the U.S. News & World Report ranking of liberal arts colleges, Jones, at the direction of the Trustees, attempted to repair Trinity College's 160-year-old Greek system by, among other things, requiring all sororities and fraternities to become coed. The plan received harsh criticism; fraternity and sorority members said that going coed would effectively shut them down, some alumni threatened to withhold donations, and some alumni called for Jones' resignation. In 2008, Gerald Gunderson, the Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of American Business and Economic Enterprise at Trinity College, learned that Jones had approached the heirs of Shelby Cullom Davis to approve the redirection of funds from Trinity's Shelby Cullom Davis endowment in contravention of Davis' original wishes. The college petitioned the Connecticut Attorney General’s office to broaden the use of funds from the Davis Endowment to include student scholarships in Economics. Gunderson filed a complaint with the Attorney General's office and a review revealed that the college had for some years been drawing on the Davis endowment without approval. Jones announced the college agreed to the original conditions of the Davis Endowment. Jones announced in May 2013 that he would be retiring when Paul Raether’s term as Chair of the Board ended on June 30, 2014.

Jones was named Interim President of Sweet Briar College in August 2014 and then President some months later. On March 3, 2015, Jones announced that the 114-year-old women’s college would close permanently in August 2015 (reference - Garden, Jasmine “Are Women’s Colleges Doomed?” NPR). Following this announcement, mediation was arranged with assistance of Virginia’s Attorney General in which members of the Board of Trustees and Jones along with other administrators would resign to allow new leadership to keep the college open. In July 2015 new leadership assumed control of the college (reference - Svrlugs, Susan. “Agreement reached to keep Sweet Briar College open”, Washington Post).

Jones is the author of three books and many articles and reviews (reference - “La Nouvelle Heloise, Rousseau and Utopia” and “ Rousseau’s Dialogues: An Interpretive Essay” published by Droz and “The Story if a Modern Greek” published by Summa Humanistica). He is the editor of one book (reference - published by Woodward Academy) and the recipient of honorary degrees from both Kalamazoo College and Trinity College (reference - college archives).