Strategy and Innovation

Dr. Christopher M. Jones

Vice President for Strategy and Innovation

    Swords Hall 203A
    (309) 677-4445
   cmjones@bradley.edu
    Strategy and Innovation

To schedule an appointment or general inquiries please email Terri Meyer at vpsi@bradley.edu or call 677-3154.

Chris was appointed in 2020 to serve as Bradley University’s inaugural Vice President for Strategy and Innovation (VPSI). As VPSI, Chris is responsible for identifying, facilitating, coordinating, and evaluating a broad set of university-wide strategic initiatives cutting across multiple administrative and academic units and encompassing significant academic and revenue-enhancing benefits. He serves as an adviser to the President in general and on short-term and long-term institutional planning in particular. Other areas of responsibility include strategic planning and alignment, academic offerings for nontraditional and online students, selective external partnerships, cross-college academic planning and complex initiatives, institutional transitions and collaborations, tracking national best practices, and selective chief of staff activities.

From 2014 to 2020, Chris served as the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Bradley’s largest and most intellectually diverse college. During his deanship, Chris and his colleagues developed an ambitious strategic plan and a corresponding implementation plan, adopted a new mission statement, underwent an external review of its major programs, implemented a new general education program, and formulated its first-ever enrollment management strategy and first-ever development plan. The College also successfully launched a First-Year Seminar Program, an externally funded Summer Research & Artistry Fellowship Program, a Global Living & Learning Community, and an annual Celebration of the Liberal Arts and Sciences Week. There were several initiatives to advance student success, develop exciting new curricula, and promote a strong sense of community within the College.

Before coming to Bradley, Chris served as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Le Moyne College. At Northern Illinois University, he directed the University Honors Program across six colleges and served as Chair of the Department of Political Science.

Chris is a tenured professor of political science at Bradley. Chris earned his B.A. and M.A. in Political Science at Binghamton University of the State University of New York where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from The Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Chris has completed Harvard University’s Institute for Management and Leadership in Education.