Jack M. Wilson

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Jack M. Wilson was named President of the five-campus, 60,000-student University of Massachusetts on March 24, 2004. He had served as interim President since September 2003. Previously, he had served UMass as the Vice President for Academic Affairs and as founding CEO of UMassOnline. He is a tenured Professor of Management at UMass Amherst.

[edit] Early life and career

Prior to arriving at UMass, Wilson was the J. Erik Jonsson '22 Distinguished Professor of Physics, Engineering Science, Information Technology, and Management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he also had served as a Dean and interim Provost.

As the CEO of UMassOnline, he helped to build the system-wide initiative into one of the largest externally directed online programs in the United States, with 64 graduate and undergraduate degree and certificate programs now serving more than 21,000 enrollees.

Wilson is nationally and internationally known for his leadership in the reform of higher education programs, winning the Theodore Hesburgh Award, the Boeing Award, and the Pew Charitable Trust Prize for his innovative programs. He was awarded an Outstanding Civilian Service Medal by the U.S. Army for service to the Army Education program. He is a Fellow of American Physical Society, and has served as a national officer of the Physical Society, American Institute of Physics, and the American Association of Physics Teachers. He has also served as a member or chair of several National Academy of Science and National Research Council study committees and task forces.

Wilson was the founder, CEO, and Chairman of the LearnLinc Corporation, founded in 1993 as a spin-off of his university research. After several mergers he formed the publicly traded (NASDAQ) Mentergy Corporation, leaving the company in the next year.

Wilson's expertise in building links between higher education, government and business led to his becoming the co-founder of the Paul Severino Center for Technological Entrepreneurship as well as other programs. He has served as a consultant to many computing and communications firms including IBM, AT&T, Lucent, Hewlett Packard, and Boeing Flight Safety International.

Wilson has participated in the Massachusetts Science and Technology Caucus of the Legislature and Governor's Office. He helped to create the Mass Insight/Battelle Science and Technology Roadmap in partnership with the Mass High Tech Council, Associated Industries of Massachusetts, and other industry groups. This report has been cited as the impetus for the Economic Stimulus I bill of last year and the Senate Task Force on Higher Education report of this year. He is presently co-chairing the Better Schools, Science and Technology Task Force for the Commonwealth.

Wilson earned his bachelor's degree at Thiel College in 1967, his master's degree in 1970 and his doctorate in 1972 in Physics both from Kent State University.

Wilson lives with his wife Judi and their two children, John and Jessica in Westboro, Massachusetts. He also has two grown daughters, Gretchen and Erika.