- Author: Pamela Kan-Rice
Jones provided UC with budget and financial expertise for more than 30 years, most recently serving as assistant vice chancellor of finance for UC Merced, overseeing operations in the Campus Budget Office and Capital Finance.
She got her start at UC Santa Barbara in 1981, where she earned a degree in business economics, then joined ANR in 1996.
In 2011, UC Executive Vice President Nathan Brostrom appointed Jones interim director of UCOP budget, providing overall leadership for the Office of the President budget, when Michael Rancer retired. Jones, who was ANR budget director, continued to perform budget-related duties for ANR during her one-year appointment, then left to become the permanent UCOP budget director. In 2014, she was appointed to UC Merced.
Outside of UC, Jones dedicated her life to serving various ministries, including pastoring for several years in Santa Barbara under the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World. She also taught New Testament Survey at Aenon Bible College.
Jones is survived by daughters Nicole Jeanne' Eskridge (William), Danielle Jeanine Jones and Alycia Jeanelle Jones, grandsons Wiliam Milton Eskridge IV and Branden Mercellous Eskridge, and siblings Arthur Gillespie Jr. (Shani), Sandra Gillespie (Michael) Karen Riley (Bruce) and Michael Gillespie.