OXFORD, Miss. – Dr. Daniel W. Jones is to be inaugurated as the 16th chancellor of the University of Mississippi April 9 at the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts. 
The investiture ceremony, set for 10 a.m., is the centerpiece of a daylong observance that focuses on community service by the university’s students, faculty and staff. The theme of “Transformation Through Service” reflects Jones’ personal commitment to the importance of serving others as an educator and physician.
“Certainly, it’s a meaningful day for me personally, but my hope is that the focus will be on the university and what we are doing as an institution to meet our mission,” he said. “Our university has the position of being the flagship liberal arts university for a state that has dramatic needs, so I do want us to clearly focus on what we can and should be doing to not only transform individual lives, but to transform communities, and I mean community in the broad sense of local, state, nation and world.”
Formerly vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine at the UM Medical Center, Jones was named chancellor by the Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning June 15, 2009. He took office July 1, following the retirement of Chancellor Robert Khayat.
Jones plans to begin the day of the ceremony with a private prayer service at Paris-Yates Chapel. After his inauguration, he and his wife, Lydia, are to host a luncheon for special friends at The Inn at Ole Miss and then attend the initiation for new members of Phi Beta Kappa, the university’s most prestigious academic honor society.
“We don’t want this to be so much about us as it is just a special day in the life of our university, and we just happen to be the lucky ones who are there at the front,” Lydia Jones said.
Inaugurals for university leaders often feature lavish ceremonies and weeklong festivities, but this event is being kept low-key out of respect for the university’s budget challenges.
“We live in a challenging time when we have not only the opportunity but also the need – because of the economy and the needs of our state – to sharpen our focus and to vigorously evaluate our priorities,” Jones said.
Instead of guest speakers, Jones plans to deliver the keynote address himself. The ceremony also is slated to include presentations by Artair Rogers, president of the Associated Student Body; Ken Sufka, president of the Faculty Senate; Dr. Jimmy Keeton, vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine; and Charles Clark, president of the Ole Miss Alumni Association.
The day before, the university holds its annual Honors Convocation and initiation of new members of Phi Kappa Phi honor society.
In the weeks leading up to the inauguration, the university is focusing attention on the service that individuals and student groups render to the community, state, nation and world. The Office of Information Technology has created a service directory Web site that showcases service activities and allows students, faculty and staff to log their service hours. The site not only will document the university’s service mission, but it will be a place for people to sign up to get involved.
“The most important thing the university does is to transform individual lives, to give young people an opportunity to come to campus, be a part of educational programs and have that transformational experience that only higher education can provide,” Jones said. “We want to always keep that as our highest priority, but more and more, society is looking to universities to provide leadership beyond the classroom to address society’s needs.”
Organizers asked members of the campus community to tell them about the service activities they perform, and the response has been overwhelming, said Noel Wilkin, associate provost and chair of the Inauguration Service Events Committee.
“These events are things our people do because of their passion and their desire to help people,” Wilkin said. “The events, both new and long-standing, fall in a number of categories, and they make it obvious that our people are transforming lives all over the world. The spirit of transformation is part of who we are.”
A service fair during the inaugural week will allow people engaged in qualifying activities to inform the entire Lafayette-Oxford-University community of their work, he said.
“It’s clear that our university has been engaged in service activities that transform people’s lives for many years,” Wilkin said.
“Consistent with Dan Jones’ makeup and his vision for the role of our university in the community and state, students, faculty and staff are actively engaged in improving lives and improving communities.”
Lydia Jones said she is not surprised that students have embraced the service concept.
“The longer we’re here and the better we get to know the students, it’s so clear that they’re service-oriented anyway,” she said. “It’s almost a natural thing for them and it’s not like ‘Oh, I have to do this service project,’ because they’re already doing that. That’s really special for us.”
A native Mississippian, Jones graduated from Mississippi College in 1971, earned his M.D. in 1975 at the UM Medical Center and completed his residency in internal medicine there in 1978. He had a private practice in Laurel, then went to Korea as a medical missionary in 1985. He returned to the UM Medical Center as a faculty member in 1992.
To allow students, faculty and staff to watch the inaugural ceremony, the university has canceled all classes scheduled for 9, 10 and 11 a.m. April 9. The ceremony will be broadcast on channel 99 of the campus cable system, and public viewing areas will be set up in Nutt Auditorium; the Overby Center; Holman Hall, Room 30; and the Student Union lobby.
For more information, go to http://inauguration.olemiss.