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Diane Jones President Bush nominated Diane Auer Jones as assistant secretary for postsecondary education on May 22, 2007, and she was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 4, 2007. As assistant secretary, Jones serves as the principal adviser to the Secretary on Departmental matters related to developing postsecondary education policy and legislative proposals. The Office of Postsecondary education is responsible for administering numerous programs, including those designed to provide financial assistance to eligible students enrolled in postsecondary educational institutions, to improve postsecondary educational facilities and programs through the provision of financial support to eligible institutions, to recruit and prepare disadvantaged students for the successful completion of postsecondary educational programs, and to promote the domestic study of foreign languages and international affairs as well as international educational research and exchange activities. Jones joined the Department of Education in May, 2007 as principal deputy assistant secretary for postsecondary education. She served as deputy to the associate director for science in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President from 2005-2007. Trained as a molecular biologist, Jones began her career as the founding director of an environmental testing laboratory and an adjunct professor of biology at the Community College of Baltimore County, Essex (CCBC). Eventually she joined the permanent faculty at CCBC, Catonsville, where she taught environmental science, biology, anatomy and physiology and genetics. With funding from the National Science Foundation, she established the Biotech Institute at CCBC, a center for preparing individuals for careers in the burgeoning biotechnology industry. She served briefly as a program officer at the National Science Foundation in the Division of Undergraduate Education before transitioning to a career in policy, serving as professional staffer and acting staff director for the Research Subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science during the 107th Congress. She then served as Princeton University’s director of the Office of Government Affairs from 2002-2005. Born and raised in Baltimore, Jones graduated from Woodlawn High School in Woodlawn, Maryland. She graduated summa cum laude from Salisbury State University with a degree in biology and earned a master’s degree in applied molecular biology from the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). She also completed doctoral coursework in cellular and molecular biology at UMBC. Jones also has experience in the private sector having founded and owned a natural and gourmet food store, a health care center, and having co-owned an environmental biotechnology company. Jones and her husband, Dr. William Jones, live in Catonsville, Maryland. and have two sons who are in college.
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