Jonathan Alger is the sixth president of James Madison University (JMU), a public comprehensive university in Virginia with 22,000 students. Under his leadership, JMU developed a vision to be “the national model of the engaged university: engaged with ideas and the world,” and a strategic plan focused on engaged learning, community engagement, and civic engagement. President Alger is a nationally recognized scholar and speaker on higher education law and policy.

President Alger previously served in positions at Rutgers University, the University of Michigan, the American Association of University Professors, the U.S. Department of Education, and a major international law firm. He currently serves on the national boards of the American Council on Education, the Association of American Colleges and Universities, and Campus Compact—and at the state level, on the Northern Virginia Technology Council. He currently co-chairs the Task Force on the Fusion of STEM & Liberal Arts and Humanities Disciplines for the Council on Competitiveness. President Alger previously served as chair of the board of the National Association of College and University Attorneys and on the Advisory Council for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health.

President Alger graduated with High Honors from Swarthmore College and Honors from Harvard Law School.