Ken Jones Ph.D.

Dr. L. Ken Jones became the eighth President of Oklahoma Christian University (OC) on May 1, 2023. Dr. Jones has been at OC since late in 2021 serving as Chancellor.

President Jones is a native of Cordell, Oklahoma and received his Ph.D. in Engineering from Oklahoma State University. He and his wife Suzie have been married for 51 years and are parents to two grown children and grandparents to two granddaughters and two grandsons.

After serving on the faculty at OSU, President Jones filled the pulpit full time for churches of Christ in both Oklahoma and Texas. His time in Christian higher education began at Lubbock Christian University in 1993, where he served as President for 19 years and as Chancellor for 5 years. His relationship with OC began in the early 80’s, when his former OSU Engineering mentor Dr. Gerald Parker asked President Jones to consult on an Engineering program Dr. Parker was helping to begin at OC.

President Jones has always been a student of leadership, becoming a certified Executive Leadership Coach through Georgetown University. His coaching expertise has been shared with schools, churches, businesses and large corporations all across the United States, and he has authored two books on the subject of leadership.

As impressive as President Jones’s resume is in engineering, gospel preaching, Christian higher education and leadership coaching, he hopes the legacy he one day leaves behind is about so much more than accomplishments and accolades. Long ago, he penned his personal mission statement, “Be a teacher for the improvement of life according to the design and will of God.” Although Jones has spent much of his life as a student of leadership, reading and studying from the best, he firmly believes the BEST book ever written on leadership is the Bible.

As a husband, father and grandfather, Jones has taken seriously the example of Mordecai in Esther 10:3b who, “…continued to work for the good of his people and to speak for the welfare of all their descendants.” Jones strives to live in such a way that his family, colleagues, friends and students will be able to say of him, “He is always working for our good and speaking for our welfare AHEAD OF HIS OWN.”

When President Jones isn’t hard at work on the campus of OC, preaching the good news, or teaching a leadership seminar, he enjoys working on the farm he and his son run together near Cordell, Oklahoma. He’s already busy crafting the vision for an OC that will continue to transform the lives of students for Christian faith, scholarship and service for generations to come. Please continually lift President Jones up in prayer, as he seeks to speak for the welfare of the students, faculty and staff at OC.