Stephen B. Jones
UAF Chancellor 2004-2008
Steve Jones was named the fifth chancellor of the University of Alaska Fairbanks by University of Alaska President Mark Hamilton in May 2004 and assumed his new position in August.
Under Jones' leadership, UAF embraced its brand and identity as America's Arctic university and Alaska's research university. UAF's 2010 strategic plan expressed the sentiment that "we know who we are; we know where we are going; we know what it will take to get there."
Jones came to UAF from North Carolina, where he served as vice chancellor for extension and engagement at North Carolina State University. While at NCSU, Jones was responsible for the university's extension, outreach and distance and continuing education efforts, including the Cooperative Extension Service and the Centennial Campus, a 1,100-acre research park aimed at developing partnerships between the university and private businesses and government agencies. He also oversaw the 200-acre Centennial Bio-Medical Campus, which houses a College of Veterinary Medicine, and the Centennial Campus Partnership Office, which manages the two research campuses.
From 1997-2001, Jones was director of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, where he oversaw and implemented the unification of previously separate extension services operated by Auburn and Alabama A&M universities.
Jones has held faculty positions at the School of Forest Resources at Pennsylvania State University and the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse. He was a tenured professor in the College of Natural Resources Department of Forestry at North Carolina State University. His research interests are primarily in the area of sustainable forestry, with a particular focus on three issues: resource sustainability, forest-based economic development and soil-site relationships.
He has a Ph.D. in resources management and a bachelor's degree in forestry from SUNY Syracuse. He also holds an associate degree in forestry from Maryland's Allegany Community College.
Prior to his academic career, Jones worked 12 years in Virginia, Georgia and Alabama for the Union Camp Corp., a Fortune 500, multifaceted paper and allied products manufacturer. He and his wife, Judy, have two children.