The 2024-2025 school year saw the departure of Northwestern State University’s president, Marcus Jones. Jones was a staple on campus, beloved by students and faculty alike for nearly three years of service as the university’s president, and much of NSU’s community was quite emotional at his leaving.

Several students grew quite close with Jones through university-sponsored trips to France. Kacy Young is a senior history and hospitality management and tourism double major who met Jones through her involvement in the President’s Leadership Program. “I traveled to France twice with the Capstone Leadership class and I got to know Dr. Jones through that,” Young said. “When you travel with anyone, you feel like you’re best friends! I got to know him well over those trips.”

Beyond getting to know Jones, these trips to France are many students’ favorite memories with him. Caiden Matthews, a senior business administration major, misses seeing Jones around campus and appreciates their trip together. “My favorite memory of Dr. Jones is exploring France and talking about cologne that interests us,” Matthews said.

Jorge Vargas, a senior business administration major, bonded with Jones as an international student and described his most cherished memory with him on one of these trips. “Our second trip to France, we were walking the streets and he told me that he was proud of me,” Vargas said. “That made me very emotional.”

Young’s favorite memory with Jones also occurred on a trip to France. “We were walking through the streets of France and I was singing an Al Green song. He stopped me and asked if I was singing Al Green and started quizzing me on what I knew about the singer,” Young said. “I kept singing and he joined in, so it was just the two of us walking down the streets of France singing together. Looking back now, I think, ‘Woah. What other student has that?’”

Both abroad and at home on NSU’s campus, Jones was always there to take on a mentor role and offer advice to any students in need. “I’ll miss his guidance the most. He was a great mentor,” Young said. “When I would get hyper-focused on a problem, he’d help me step back and view it from a much broader perspective. He has changed the way I think about situations in the best way.”

Matthews valued Jones’ calm leadership and his desire to be there for all students. “My favorite thing about Dr. Jones is that he was willing to help everyone he encountered,” Matthews said.

Vargas offered the perspective of an international student in need of guidance. “Even though he was the president, he would always have time to give advice. He was there for not only international students but everyone. He was really involved with the students on campus,” Vargas said. “He seemed to always have an answer for everything.”

One of Jones’ greatest strengths was his ability to be there for every student at NSU, no matter how serious a situation. “I lost my grandma last spring and he put forth the effort to stop me and give his condolences,” Young said. “That outreach was really impactful. He didn’t think about how powerful it would be for him to do that, but for the president of the university to genuinely care that much for students’ well-being makes such a huge difference. That’s something so many other universities don’t have.”

Though he was always there for students struggling with tough circumstances, Jones was just as present daily. “Seeing him around campus spending time with the students was amazing,” Vargas said. “You could often find him at Vic’s or Iberville having lunch with students. He’d take his tray, sit with random students and just start talking.”

Jones’ departure from campus hit some students quite hard, but they will forever cherish the memories they have with him. “I’m grateful that he was the president for the years he was here and that I got to experience his leadership. I was very blessed that I got to have a closer relationship with him than most students,” Young said. “Him leaving was quite impactful for me and I was upset for a while, but I realized it was cool I was upset. It was cool that I’d been able to be close enough with him to feel so much emotion about him leaving.”

Despite the pain that his leaving brings, Jones will forever hold a special place in the hearts of the students and faculty of NSU. Northwestern State University will greatly miss Jones, but his impact on NSU’s campus and students will be remembered for years to come.