Anonymous donation leads to establishment of Thomas O. Professorship at WBU

An anonymous donor has given Williams Baptist University $250,000 to establish the Thomas O. Jones Professorship. 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 donation.

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.”