In the aftermath of the Perkins resignation, the Board of Regents for the University of Maryland System appointed Dan Jones as “Acting Interim President”. Jones started at Towson in 1966 as an Assistant Professor in English after graduating and working at the University of Utah, which is where he also got his Ph.D. in 1972. He became Chair of the Division of English/American Literature Department in 1971 and retained this position until 1992 when the Department was renamed the Department of English. He was chair of the English Department from 1992 until 1995. In 1995, he was named Acting Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, and became the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts in 1997. From 2001 until 2002, Jones was the Provost and Vice President of Instruction. While there was concern that Jones would not be able to lead the University and begin to rebuild its reputation after the resignation of Perkins, many felt that to have yet another transitional leader would be too detrimental. Three weeks after being named “Acting Interim President”, the Board of Regents officially named Jones Acting President on May 4, 2002. He remained in this position for almost a year while the Board of Regents conducted a search for a new University President. During his tenure as President, Jones continued to reach out to Alumni for funding, worked on the budget and staffing, broke ground on the new Center for the Arts building expansion, and started work on a new campus master plan. Jones retired from the University after Robert L. Caret’s appointment to the President’s Office in 2003. He died on May 13, 2010.