For the first time in nearly a decade, Washington’s two largest universities welcomed new presidents within the same year. 

Elizabeth Cantwell became the first female president of Washington State University in April, and Robert J. Jones, in August, became the first Black president of the University of Washington. 

The two leaders recently made a joint appearance at the Association of Washington Business 2025 Policy Summit, in a panel mirroring one held at the summit in 2016. 

The summit brings together business leaders, policy experts and elected officials.  

During the panel, both university leaders lamented the breakdown of partnerships between universities and the federal government, and emphasized the need for more investment in higher education, especially in research.

“There’s an absolute bottom line for the time period that we’re in. If you continue to disrupt that bottom line, it will take decades to recover this nation to being the cutting edge for innovation, if we’re able to recover,” Jones said. 

Like most universities, Washington State University and the University of Washington each rely heavily on federal and state research dollars, as well as tuition, to maintain their operations. 

The money invested into research goes back to local economies, Cantwell said, adding that the research done at the University of Washington and Washington State University has helped drive the state’s economy for decades. 

“The ability to continue doing that is in jeopardy at the moment,” she added.

Jones and Cantwell both stressed the importance of continuing research into quantum computing and artificial intelligence. 

Both are developing fields that will become critical within the next decade, Jones and Cantwell said. 

“It’s not just about creating that technology. It’s: How do you also start to think about the research and innovation? How do you connect that to workforce development and opportunities for young people when they graduate to have jobs in this area?” Jones said. 

Washington is “incredibly well-positioned” to be a leader in quantum computing and AI research, Cantwell said. But amid ongoing state and federal budget pressures, further development in these fields will depend on how well institutions can collaborate rather than compete with each other.  

“There has to be this wide, deep collaboration among institutions that have the wherewithal to solve the problem,” Jones said. 

The presidents also acknowledged challenges around attracting students and the need to adjust their institutions’ offerings to cater to shifting workforce needs and to collaborate with K-12 leaders to increase high school graduation rates. 

Compared to fall 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, undergraduate enrollment this year  is down by about 4,600 students at Washington State University. At the University of Washington, it climbed by about 2,500 students between 2019 and the 2024-25 academic year.

Education leaders blame sluggish enrollment on drops in high school graduation rates and college readiness, but also the growing notion amongst students that college degrees aren’t valuable in the current economy. 

“A college degree is not just a personal benefit,” Jones said. “It’s a community benefit. It impacts all of us.”.

University leaders, Jones and Cantwell said, have a responsibility to work with K-12 educators to improve college readiness and to work with businesses to ensure students are learning the skills they need to get quality jobs. 

Teaching skills related to evolving technology like AI, as well as investing in training for specific trades, will likely be part of the solution, they said.  

“We all have, as public institutions, the obligation to provide the education that we have to the people who want it where they are and when they need it,” Cantwell said.  

Cantwell previously led Utah State University for 18 months and has held senior research positions at the University of Arizona and Arizona State University, as well as roles at several national laboratories. 

She pointed to Washington State University’s history as a land-grant institution, which receives money from the federal government for agricultural teaching and research, as a reason why she accepted the position. 

“There is a thread of history that is still meaningful today and meaningful into the future,” Cantwell said, calling Washington State University “one of the most iconic land grants in the entire country.” 

Jones joined the University of Washington following nine years as the chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and three years as president of the State University of New York at Albany. Before entering administration, he was a faculty member at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities for 34 years. 

“This is not my first rodeo, but it clearly will be my last,” Jones said, adding that he is excited to be “leading a university like the University of Washington at one of the most exciting but also most challenging periods in the history of all of our education.” 

This story is republished from the Washington State Standard, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news outlet that provides original reporting, analysis and commentary on Washington state government and politics.