Fort Valley State president reflects on tenure ahead of retirement

Jones says his career in higher education spanned four decades and focused on strengthening the university.

FORT VALLEY, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – After a decade of leadership at Fort Valley State University, President Dr. Paul Jones announced his retirement earlier this month.

President Jones tells 41NBC Fort Valley State University has been a journey of growth, learning, and pure joy.  

He was appointed to serve as the 10th president of Fort Valley State in December of 2015. His education career spans more than three decades in Colorado, Maryland, Utah and Georgia.  

“I’ve spent four decades in higher education, and I can’t think of any other space that I would want to work in,” he said. 

Looking back on his accomplishments, he said one difficult challenge he faced was learning discipline. 

“We believed we had outlined a plan to move forward, but we needed to be disciplined,” he said. “I think that’s something that I think I learned along the way: the importance of staying in the course regardless of the challenges when you believe the road map is the right road map… and I think that’s what we tried to do.”

Jones says he hopes his students, faculty and surrounding community will remember him in a positive light; he wants the university to know he took the position not thinking about himself, but the betterment of the university. 

“I just hope we’ve made some impact, and that people may look back on this and say we love this university, loved our time here, and gave everything we had to position this institution for a better day…but time will tell.”

Jones shares this piece of advice for the school’s next president.

“The next president will have to meet with the stakeholders,” he said. “See what’s the best pathway forward. And I’ll be one of the best advocates and champions I can possibly be.”

Jones’ retirement is official at the end of June.