An anonymous gift has endowed a professorship in honor of a former Williams Baptist University president. The $250,000 gift establishes the Thomas O. Jones Professorship at WBU.

Jones, the sixth president of WBU, led the school from 2012 to 2017.

“This gift is both a fantastic surprise and a very fitting tribute,” said Williams President Dr. Stan Norman. “This generous, anonymous donor has endowed a professorship at the heart of our mission and purpose, and it is appropriately named in honor Dr. Tom Jones, who has always exemplified the Christ-centered traits the professorship is intended to cultivate.”

The university plans to create two positions with the gift. The Thomas O. Jones Professorship in Christian Ethics will be held by Dr. Robert Foster, chair of Christian ministries at WBU, and the Thomas O. Jones Professorship in Faith & Vocation is to be held by Dr. Michael Fox, associate professor of Christian ministries. Both will be formally installed in those professorships at convocation this August.

“I am surprised, humbled and delighted with the establishment of this new, endowed professorship at the university,” said Jones. “The people and purpose of Williams are, and always will be, cherished threads in the tapestry of our family’s story.”  

Jones and his wife, Gail, are now retired and living in California. In addition to serving as president of Williams, he was also the vice president for institutional advancement from 1994 to 2000.

“Gail and I are humbled for the honor this recognition brings and grateful for the focus it provides for these two important areas of Christian servanthood,” he said. “Though we are unaware of the benefactor, we whole-heartedly support the intent of the generous gift to enhance Williams’ mission to cultivate Christ-centered leaders who make a difference in their lifework.”

Williams is a private, Christian university in Walnut Ridge.