Owens
Jones
WILBERFORCE — New Wilberforce University President Dr. Vann R. Newkirk made a pair of additions to his executive team.
Dr. Brandon Owens recently joined WU as provost and vice president of academic affairs, and Dr. Kenneth Elvis Jones joined as the executive vice president and chief of staff.
Owens was an associate professor and director of the J.F. Drake Memorial Learning Resources Center and State Black Archives, Research Center, and Museum at Alabama A&M University. Prior to AAMU, he served under the leadership of Newkirk as acting provost and vice president for academic affairs, associate provost and associate vice president for academic affairs, dean of the John Hope and Aurelia E. Franklin Library, and assistant professor of history at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Owens earned his doctor of philosophy degree in public history and master of library science degree from Middle Tennessee State University. He has a master of arts in history degree from Alabama State University and a bachelor of arts in history degree from Fisk University.
Jones brings decades of success as a strong communications professional with broad experience in academic and administrative affairs.
Just before coming to Wilberforce, Jones was the vice president for Transformational Initiatives and Strategic Assessment at Fisk University. His extensive career as a higher education administrator includes serving as interim provost/VPAA, dean of Humanities and Social Behavioral Sciences, and vice provost of student success at Fisk University. He served as dean of liberal and fine arts at Elizabeth City State University, Elizabeth City, North Carolina, also serving as director of the university’s Honors Program. He was chair of the First Year Experience program at Rust College in his hometown, Holly Springs, Mississippi.
Jones also served as vice president for academic affairs at Miles College in Birmingham, Alabama, and early in his career, he was an assistant professor of mass communications at Howard University, Washington, D.C.
He holds a PhD in mass communications from Howard University and a master’s degree in communication from Penn West-Clarion (formerly Clarion State University, Pennsylvania). He attended the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), earning a bachelor’s degree in radio/TV production, and he holds an earned doctorate in ministry from the Virginia Theological Seminary, Alexandria, Virginia.
