Jonathan R. Alger - 2015
Jonathan R. Alger is the sixth president of James Madison University, taking office on July 1, 2012. He previously served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and has also held prior positions at the University of Michigan, American Association of University Professors, the U.S. Department of Education, and a major international law firm. Jonathan is a nationally recognized scholar and speaker on higher education policy and law and has given hundreds of presentations across the U.S. and abroad on a wide range of topics such as access and opportunity, diversity, student and faculty recruitment and retention, management of financial challenges, student organizations, shared governance, leadership, and academic freedom. He has taught courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level, and co-teaches an honors seminar on leadership.
Jonathan has served on many national advisory boards and committees, including the American Bar Association’s Accreditation Committee and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Advisory Council for the National Institutes of Health. He currently serves on the Division I Board of Directors for the NCAA, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities’ Council of State Representatives, and Virginia’s GENEDGE Alliance Board of Trustees. He is a graduate of Swarthmore College and Harvard Law School.
Since joining NACUA in 1996, Jonathan has been an active speaker, moderator, and discussion group leader on sixty-two occasions at numerous annual conferences and CLE workshops. He served on nearly 20 committees. Jonathan was the author of five articles for The Journal of College and University Law, and he produced a NACUA compendium on online education. Given his significant and sustained service to NACUA, Jonathan was elected to the NACUA Board of Directors and served as an at-large member from 2004 – 2007, and was then elected to the leadership ladder in 2008; he served as Chair in 2011- 2012.
Jonathan’s NACUA colleagues describe him as an individual who has contributed significantly and substantially to NACUA, generously sharing knowledge and experience through countless presentations and scholarly writings. His colleagues also note that Jonathan’s work in the area of diversity in particular has informed and influenced countless colleagues and their institutions as they strive to understand and implement this ever-evolving aspect of higher education law.
NACUA is pleased to recognize Jonathan Alger as a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award for his outstanding and exemplary service to the Association.