Jack M. Wilson, Ph.D., president emeritus of the University of Massachusetts and distinguished professor of Higher Education, Emerging Technologies and Innovation, is currently serving as interim dean of the Francis College of Engineering.
Wilson served as the 25th president of the University of Massachusetts system, from 2003 to 2011 and is now University Distinguished Professor of Higher Education, Emerging Technologies and Innovation. He serves on the board of the UMass Memorial Medical Center. He is the chair of the Department of Education's FIPSE Advisory Board and also chair of the New England Defense Technology Initiative. He was the founding Chair of the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center –a joint venture of the University, MIT, Harvard, Boston University, Northeastern, EMC, CISCO, and other smaller partners.
Wilson is a former professor of physics and served at nearly every level of academic administration from department chair to provost. Before coming to the University of Massachusetts, he was the J. Erik Jonsson ’22 Distinguished Professor of Physics, Engineering Science, Information Technology, and Management. He is a private sector entrepreneur who founded the ILinc Corp –which he sold in 2000. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and has received many awards for his work in technology in education, higher education policy, and technology driven economic development.
Wilson established the Jack M. Wilson Presidential Scholarship Fund with a gift of an insurance policy worth $1,775,000,-and augmented with other funds raised. The total value of the scholarship fund at his retirement as president in July of 2011 was over $2.1 million.
In addition to his duties at the University, Wilson served as interim president of the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate in 2011-2012.