IL SR0358

Congratulates Robert Jones, Ph.D. on concluding his nine-year tenure as chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) and vice president of the University of Illinois System

Dr. Jones became the first African American chancellor of UIUC in 2016 after serving as president of the University of Albany and over three decades at the University of Minnesota

Enrollment at UIUC grew 26% during his tenure, and he helped launch the Illinois Commitment program providing free tuition for Illinois residents with family incomes below $75,000

Established the Carle Illinois College of Medicine (the first engineering-based medical school in the world) and created the Siebel School of Computing and Data Science

Led UIUC through the COVID-19 pandemic, including fostering development of a saliva-based COVID-19 test for rapid results for staff and students