Michael Jones, innovative director of the Language and Media Centers at Swarthmore College, has died at 59

Michael Jones, 59, of Philadelphia, innovative director of the Language and Media Centers at Swarthmore College, student advocate, community leader in Powelton Village, mentor, and volunteer, died Friday, May 2, of kidney cancer at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

An expert in academic technology and adept at innovative collaboration, Mr. Jones spent 29 years merging new technology with hands-on teaching at Swarthmore. He joined the college in Delaware County in 1996 when its new Language Center opened in Kohlberg Hall and, as director, turned the small third-floor classroom into a supplemental instructional powerhouse.

“Mike devoted himself to supporting students, faculty, and staff not just in learning new languages but also in encouraging them to explore new ways to teach, design, and create across all academic interests and skill levels,” Swarthmore president Valerie Smith said in a tribute.

Mr. Jones cataloged, curated, digitized, and shared the college’s language learning materials as the internet and online tools developed, and organized popular how-to workshops and training sessions for students, faculty, and staff. He especially embraced remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and wrote blog posts about emerging technology and its application to modern education.

“He would find ways to make our teaching vision a technological reality,” associate professor Carina Yervasi said.

He renovated the Language Center in 2011 and turned numerous unused classrooms and open spaces on campus into multiuse labs, studios, and galleries. He called them “sandboxes” for students, and they became known as the MakerSpace Ecosystem.

Professor Sibelan Forrester called him a “tremendous engine” of the Language Center’s growth. Mr. Jones told the Swarthmore Phoenix newspaper: “What you’re trying to do in language class is to get people to use some of the vocabulary that they’re learning and reapply it to new circumstances.”

He helped design Swarthmore’s cross-cultural classes with Ashesi University in Ghana in 2011 and became director of the college’s Media Center. He served on the board of the Northeast Association for Language Learning Technology and was active with Swarthmore’s Staff Advisory Council, Accessibility Working Group, and Learning for Life partnership.

Associate professor Logan Grider noted “his excellent sense of humor, his wry smile, and that particular brand of stubbornness that quite simply got things done.” Jason Parkhill, the school’s information technology officer, said: “When I think of him, I think ‘force of nature.’”

Earlier, from 1986 to 1996, Mr. Jones was assistant director of the Information Technology Center at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

He served as president of the Powelton Village Civic Association in West Philadelphia and was its representative on the University City District board. He was especially focused on students who lived in the community, and friends said: ”He worked tirelessly to advocate on behalf of his fellow neighbors and to preserve the quality of life for all residents.”

Michael Antoine Richard Jones was born May 25, 1965, in Landstuhl, Germany. His American father, Richard, managed craft and auto hobby shops for the U.S. Army, and Mr. Jones grew up with his Dutch mother, Henny, and younger brothers Rob and Erik.

The family lived in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands, and he enrolled at the SUNY campus at Buffalo after graduating high school in the Netherlands in 1983. He earned a bachelor’s degree in German and political science and worked as an undergraduate at the school’s Information Technology Center.

Mr. Jones loved to travel and explore, and his mother said he was “so curious as to what lay in store.” He spoke English, Dutch, German, and French, and his niece Breda said: “He had a passion for cooking and frequently expressed his love through his food.”

He liked art and music. He played bridge. He loved dogs. His brother Erik said: “Family and friends and a good meal were one of his happiest combinations.”

He was affable and adaptable. “He will always be remembered as the man capable of anything,” said his niece Jordan.

He organized student voter drives in college and followed World Cup soccer and tennis on TV. He eschewed cellphones away from work and went seriously back to nature whenever he spent time at his getaway home in rural Gilbertsville, N.Y.

“He was super creative,” said his brother Rob. “If he didn’t have something, he would make it.”

His sister-in-law Suzanne said: “He was generous, thoughtful, and always taking the time to do the right thing.”

In addition to his mother, brothers, sister-in-law, nieces, and a nephew, Colin, Mr. Jones is survived by other relatives.

A celebration of his life is to be held later.

Donations in his name may be made to the American Civil Liberties Union, 125 Broad St., 18th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10004; Powelton Village Civic Association, Box 7616, Philadelphia, Pa. 19101; and Kidney Cancer Association, Box 676226, Dallas, Tex. 75267.