Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of SR0358

SR0358 LRB104 14048 MST 27180 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois Senate wish to congratulate Robert Jones, Ph.D. on the occasion of concluding his tenure as chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and as vice president of the University of Illinois System; and

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

WHEREAS, Dr. Jones began his academic career as a faculty member at the University of Minnesota in 1978, where he served as an internationally respected authority on plant physiology and a nationally recognized university administrator in a number of leadership roles for more than three decades; he then served as president of the University of Albany before becoming the first African American chancellor of UIUC in 2016; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Jones played an integral role in enrollment at UIUC growing 26%, and he was instrumental in the university launching Illinois Commitment, which promises free tuition for any Illinois resident whose family income is below $75,000, establishing the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, which is the first engineering-based medical school in the world, and creating the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science and the Siebel Center for Design, among other accomplishments; he also led UIUC through the COVID-19 pandemic by increasing access to students and fostering the development of a saliva-based COVID-19 test for staff and students to rapidly receive results; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Jones' plan for UIUC included leading the university to embark on new strategies to draw together international scholars and professors, particularly in the global south, to help bring diverse experiences and viewpoints to solve the world's greatest challenges, further enhancing the university's profile as one of the country's premier research universities and as a magnet for talented students, faculty, staff, and researchers from across the State and around the world; and

WHEREAS, Under Dr. Jones' leadership, UIUC has created a new vision as the flagship land-grant university for the 21st century while honoring and extending its long history of excellence and maintaining its timeless commitment to serving the people of Illinois; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Jones is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a fellow of the American Society of Agronomy and the Crop Science Society of America, and he has served as chair of the Association of American Universities Board of Directors, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities Board of Directors, and the Big Ten Council of Chancellors and Presidents; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate Robert Jones, Ph.D. on concluding his tenure as chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and as vice president of the University of Illinois System after nine years of successful leadership; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Dr. Jones as a symbol of our respect and esteem.