RUSSEL C. JONES, Ph.D., P.E.

Russel Jones is a private consultant, working through World Expertise L.L.C to offer services to a select clientele. His primary interests are international higher education and human capacity building through engineering education. Until recently he served as President of the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi, UAE – a new university dedicated to graduate education and research, focused on alternative energy. He is founding editor of the International Engineering Education Digest, a periodic electronic newsletter.  

Dr. Jones received his education at Carnegie Institute of Technology, earning degrees in civil engineering and materials science. Prior to returning to Carnegie for his doctoral study, he worked as a practicing civil engineer. He has spent much of his career as an educator, starting with engineering education and broadening to higher education as a whole. After completing his doctoral degree in 1963, he taught for eight years on the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then served in a succession of administrative posts in higher education, for several years each: Chairman of Civil Engineering at Ohio State University , Dean of Engineering at the University of Massachusetts , Academic Vice President at Boston University , and President and University Research Professor at the University of Delaware . Prior to forming World Expertise L.L.C. as managing partner, he served as Executive Director of the National Society of Professional Engineers, an individual member society for the licensed professional engineer with offices in Alexandria , Virginia .

Long active in the engineering profession, Dr. Jones has served as a national officer of the American Society of Civil Engineers, has chaired major task committees for such groups as the American Society for Engineering Education and the American Association of Engineering Societies, and has served as President of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. He was General Chairman for UPADI ’90, the biannual meeting of the Pan American Association of Engineering Societies, and has served as Co-chair of the UNESCO Steering Committee on Human Resources Development for Technical Industry Stimulation. Prior to becoming its Executive Director, Dr. Jones was active as a volunteer in the National Society of Professional Engineers, and served as President of its Delaware Engineering Society. He has been an elected member of the Council of the Delaware Association of Professional Engineers, the state PE registration board. He is licensed as a Professional Engineer in several states, and as a Euro Engineer with FEANI.

Dr. Jones has been honored with the Collingwood Prize and the Friedman Professional Recognition Award of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and was elected to Distinguished Member status in ASCE in 2004. He has been awarded the International Medal for Distinguished Contributions to Engineering Education of the Australasian Association for Engineering Education, and has been honored as the Outstanding Delaware Engineer of the Year for 1994. Dr. Jones has been honored as the recipient of the 2005 Chair’s Award of the American Association of Engineering Societies. He is a Fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Institution of Engineers of Ireland, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, the National Society of Professional Engineers, and the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce. He was a Senior Fellow of the American Council on Education in 1988-90.

Recently, Dr. Jones has been most active in consulting on the enhancement of engineering education in developing countries, and in chairing volunteer activities in that area. He is President of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations Committee on Capacity Building , establishing programs to build technical capacity in developing countries in order to stimulate economic development there. He has recently served as Chair of the International Division of the American Society for Engineering Education, and as President of the Committee on Engineering Education of the Pan American Association of Engineering Societies. Dr. Jones is a member of the United States National Commission on UNESCO, providing guidance to the US State Department and to its Ambassador to UNESCO.

BETHANY S. JONES, Ph.D.

Bethany S. Jones is Advisor to the Executive Affairs Authority of the Abu Dhabi, UAE, government. As such, she provides policy guidance in areas such as higher education. She recently completed an 18-month term as Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at the United Arab Emirates University in Al-Ain, UAE.  In that capacity she led a college of approximately 5,000 students and 200 faculty members. She also holds the rank of James Madison Distinguished Professor Emerita at the James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Dr. Jones received her B.A. degree from Chestnut Hill College and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in French from Case Western Reserve University .  While at Case Western Reserve she did pioneering work in computer applications to the study of the humanities.  She did post-graduate studies at Harvard, where she has also returned as a guest lecturer on managing change in higher education.  Following her doctoral work, Dr. Jones held faculty appointments and administrative positions at Cleveland State University , the University of Delaware , Southwest Missouri State University , and then served as Vice President for Academic Affairs at James Madison University in Virginia and was named James Madison Distinguished Professor.

As Executive Director of International Programs at James Madison she had a portfolio of responsibilities which included educational programming for over 500 study abroad students, immigration and academic support services for over 600 international faculty, students and staff, new program development, work in international economic development, faculty development, and running the Commonwealth of Virginia International Internship Program.

Over the years Dr. Jones has served on many local, national and international committees with organizations such as the American Council on Education, the Ohio Board of Regents, the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges , and the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.  She also serves as a private consultant in her areas of interest, and is co-founder of World Expertise LLC.  With Dr. Russel Jones she writes the International Engineering Education Digest which is distributed to approximately 40,000 readers around the world each month.

Dr. Jones has particular expertise in international education, higher education reorganization, entrepreneurship education, faculty performance reviews, curriculum development, and preparation of engineers for international practice.  She has been active in teacher education beginning with work in the Cleveland ( Ohio ) Public Schools, and continuing with service in Missouri and Virginia.  Her work has been supported at various times by the Cleveland Foundation, the Jessie Ball duPont Religious, Educational and Charitable Fund, the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation, the Soros Foundation Moldova , the Eurasia Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.  She is a US delegate to the World Federation of Engineering Organizations’ Standing Committee on Capacity Building .

Dr. Jones is bi-lingual (French/English) and has lived abroad for extended periods of time.  She has worked with higher education leaders and programs in countries such as the United Arab Emirates, China, Colombia, Japan, Northern Ireland, Korea, Turkey, France, Italy, the U.K., Spain, Romania, Moldova and Malta .