Dr. Jones was appointed Interim Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs for the 2006-2007 academic year. In April 2007, he was named Provost. He previously served as the Dean of the Richard A. Henson School of Science and Technology for nine years.

Dr. Jones came to SU in 1977 after receiving his Ph.D. in plant physiology from the University of Maryland. While his course work for his Ph.D. was taken at College Park, all of his research was conducted out of the Horn Point Environmental Laboratory in Cambridge, Maryland, on the Choptank River. He has maintained an adjunct position with the Horn Point Lab all during his faculty career at SU. His thesis work was on altering the biochemical composition of microscopic algae to enhance the growth of aquaculture oysters. He has spent the last 25 years studying the physiological ecology of aquatic plants in the Chesapeake Bay region, especially their relation to higher trophic levels. Most recently, he has been involved in studying the effects of elevated levels of nitrogen and phosphorus on Maryland Coastal Bay ecology.

Over his years at SU, Dr. Jones has served on many campus committees, taught over 15 different courses, published numerous refereed science articles, and was the prime driving force behind the creation of the Dual Degree in Environmental/ Marine Science and Biology Program between SU and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Dr. Jones received the SU Distinguished Faculty Award in 1991, and the Maryland Association for Higher Education Educator of the Year Award in 1997. He also served as President of the Atlantic Estuarine Research Society from 1990 to 1992.

Prior to receiving his Ph.D., Dr. Jones served in the US Army from 1968 to 1972 as a military intelligence officer. He served in Vietnam from 1971 to 1972, and later as a major in the Army Reserves, he was appointed the Military Intelligence Operations Officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency's Prisoner of War and Missing in Action office during the Gulf War in 1991. Dr. Jones has been married to Anne-Marie Gibbons since 1968 and they have two children, Brennan Thomas and Kerrie Anne.