President Jonathan R. Alger and Mrs. Mary Ann Alger

Jonathan Alger became the 6th president of James Madison University (JMU) on July 1, 2012. Prior to coming to JMU, Alger served as senior vice president and general counsel at Rutgers University, where he provided strategic leadership on a variety of issues and established a comprehensive compliance program. He had previously worked as assistant general counsel at the University of Michigan, where he played a key leadership role in the university’s efforts in two landmark Supreme Court cases on diversity and admissions and coordinated one of the largest amicus brief coalitions in Supreme Court history. Earlier in his career he worked in the national office of the American Association of University Professors on issues such as academic freedom, shared governance, tenure, and due process. He also served for several years in the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, where he was the point person on the development and implementation of national policies on race-conscious financial aid, racial harassment and free expression. He began his career as an associate in the Labor and Employment Section of the international law firm of Morgan, Lewis and Bockius.

President Alger was born and raised outside Rochester, N.Y. He earned his B.A. with High Honors and Phi Beta Kappa from Swarthmore College (political science major, history minor and public policy concentration), and his J.D. with Honors from Harvard Law School. His wife, Mary Ann, serves in many volunteer capacities at JMU and in the community and has a B.S. from Auburn University and an M.B.A. from the University of Miami (FL). Her extensive business background includes experience with university technology commercialization and start-up companies.The Algers have a daughter named Eleanor, who graduated from Miami University (OH) and is now enrolled in a master’s program at the Savannah College of Art and Design. The JMU president has sung with acclaimed choral groups that have toured internationally, made professional recordings and performed on national television. His other interests include travel, history, tennis, hiking and coin collecting. All three family members are avid fans of college sports and arts programs, and the family has also been involved in numerous community and charitable organizations.