Jones named SU assistant provost; will provide administrative leadership, support for key interdisciplinary programs

Jones named SU assistant provost; will provide administrative leadership, support for key interdisciplinary programsMarch 27, 2007Kevin Morrowkdmorrow@syr.edu

Roberta (Bobbi) Jones, associate dean for administrative operations and finance at University College, has been named an assistant provost at Syracuse University, providing administrative leadership and support for key interdisciplinary programs that are designed to advance the University’s vision of Scholarship in Action, according to Vice Chancellor and Provost Eric F. Spina.

One of her first assignments will be to support Spina and College of Arts and Sciences Dean Cathryn Newton in the transition of the national Imagining America (IA) program to Syracuse University.

Imagining America is a national consortium of 80 colleges and universities whose mission is to strengthen the public role and democratic purposes of the humanities, arts and design. Founded in 1999 as a partner program of the White House Millennium Council, IA has been based at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. On July 1, IA moves to SU through 2012. In her new position, Jones will coordinate the administrative and logistical support for Imagining America, ensuring that the transition of personnel and finances is seamless and that offices and programs across the University are involved.

She will also provide administrative support to several other interdisciplinary, multi-institutional projects and their programmatic leaders, including the Kauffman Foundation-supported Syracuse Campus-Community Entrepreneurship Initiative and academic initiatives with SUNY Upstate Medical University and the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

“Bobbi Jones is a tremendously talented administrator who has demonstrated the ability to be truly collaborative and entrepreneurial in her approach to complex situations,” Spina says. “She is an ideal person to provide leadership and support to programs such as Imagining America and the Kauffman project, both of which are broad-scale collaborations across many disciplines. I look forward to working with Bobbi and know that she will contribute to our advancement as a University.”

“I am thrilled for the opportunity to contribute to such exciting initiatives as Imagining America and the Syracuse Campus-Community Entrepreneurship Initiative, which have such tremendous benefit for so many here in Central New York and elsewhere,” Jones says.

Jones joined University College in 1988, overseeing all aspects of University College’s limited-residency distance education undergraduate and graduate programs. She was promoted to assistant dean for administrative operations and finance in 1997 and then associate dean for administrative operations and finance in 1999, responsible for various University College operations, including budget planning, facilities management in Syracuse and Blue Mountain Lake, N.Y., human resources, information systems, financial aid and workforce education.

She previously operated her own higher education management consultancy and was the registrar for the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Jones holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Colgate University and a master’s degree in higher education administration from SU.