Kirk Jonas Named Director of Newly Founded Richmond Research Institute at University of Richmond
March 29, 2004
R. Kirk Jonas has been named director of a new institute at the University of Richmond that will focus on research on public policy issues.
Jonas, who is deputy director of the Virginia Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, has more than 25 years experience with the commission. He also has served as an adjunct professor of political science at the university since 1986.
The Richmond Research Institute, which will be housed in Weinstein Hall, will encourage and facilitate collaborative and interdisciplinary research from faculty on a variety of public policy issues. The projects undertaken by the institute will be aligned with faculty expertise across the university and will include undergraduate students as active partners in the research.
The institute also will disseminate the results of the research and will host forums and symposia on special topics that might include experts from other universities, as well as state and federal agencies.
"Kirk Jonas brings a wealth of relevant experience in both the academic and public arenas to the task of serving as the founding director of the Richmond Research Institute," said university provost June R. Aprille. "His ability to bring faculty, students and government personnel together for collaborative research that will inform the debate and decisions on public policy issues will be key to the institute's success."
The institute "will serve as an organizational umbrella that will relate scholarly research to problem solving and policy making in the local community, the state, the nation and beyond," according to Aprille.
Jonas led the project team formed in response to the 1991-92 recession whose studies of the Virginia budget process resulted in a 1993 Constitutional amendment creating a fund that provided almost a $1 billion cash cushion for the 2002-03 budget crisis.
Jonas also worked on scores of public policy research projects and studies that resulted in millions of dollars of savings and new revenues for the state.
Jonas holds a Ph.D. degree in public policy and public administration from Virginia Commonwealth University, an M.A. degree in political science from the University of Richmond and a B.A. degree in political science from Wake Forest University.