Jeff Jones has more than 31 years of experience in a wide variety of roles in higher education, including leadership in regional campus administration, distance and on-line education, enrollment management, student affairs, fundraising, academic programming and management, marketing and communications, admissions, career planning, alumni affairs, intercollegiate and recreational athletics, housing and residence life, community outreach, and economic development. He has organized fundraising campaigns, and has written and managed a number of major grants. He developed for business and industry an entrepreneurial and highly-successful contract education and training department, leveraging the expertise of university faculty in both consulting and training roles.
Dr. Jones currently serves as vice provost for UCF Connect at the University of Central Florida. In that role, he has administrative responsibility for 11 regional campuses, including online and distance education, and continuing and corporate education. UCF is the second-largest campus in the United States, with approximately 63,000 students.
Prior to joining UCF, he served almost six years as vice chancellor for student affairs and enrollment management at Indiana University South Bend. There, he led a team in student and enrollment services which also included intercollegiate athletics and residence life. Jones led growth initiatives resulting in record credit hour and headcount enrollment. In close collaboration with faculty leadership, he planned and directed university retention efforts, resulting in record first-year to second-year retention rates. There, Jones chaired the campus Enrollment Management Advisory Committee and led extensive enrollment and retention efforts to re-engineer recruitment, enrollment and retention functions. He established a division-wide, outcomes-based assessment program, with an emphasis on developing a culture of evidence. He was a key participant in an Indiana University-wide redesign of student service delivery resulting from an extensive benchmarking and cost-reduction study.
Before joining Indiana University, Jones served for 23 years in a variety of capacities at Purdue University North Central (Westville, IN). In his last position he served as associate vice chancellor for engagement, representing the university in economic development, community engagement, and P-12 educational outreach. He has served as a member of the academic affairs staff, organizing and managing off-campus courses and a large external degree program.
Dr. Jones also has served as a consultant and trainer for a variety of organizations in strategic enrollment planning, board development, team building, conflict resolution, strategic planning, collective bargaining, and quality improvement. He is an accomplished public speaker with media experience, having produced and hosted for two years a successful cable television show featuring university faculty. He has worked as a freelance journalist and has written hundreds of news and feature articles for newspaper and magazine publication.
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