Jake B. Schrum, a native Texan who grew up in Sugar Land, near Houston, has served as a college and university administrator for more than 27 years. Having lived in Texas, Georgia, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, Schrum has been an administrator at two major research universities and three liberal arts colleges. He is widely recognized as an author and speaker in the field of educational advancement and moral leadership in higher education.

Schrum graduated from John Foster Dulles High School, near Houston. He received his B.A. in psychology in 1968 from Southwestern University, where he served as president of the Student Government Association. That same year, he enrolled in the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. While at SMU, Schrum and his spouse, Jane Woodman Schrum of Houston, served as residence hall parents for approximately 600 first-year male students.

In 1970, the Schrums returned to Southwestern where Schrum served as director of men's housing and associate chaplain. That same year he decided to pursue full-time work in higher education and was encouraged to finish his theological studies at Yale University. He graduated from Yale Divinity School in 1973 with a Master of Divinity degree and immediately began his administrative career with Yale University--first with the Association of Yale Alumni, then with the Yale Alumni Fund. Schrum spent his last few years with Yale as a fundraiser for the Divinity School, playing a minor role in Yale's $370 million campaign (at that time the largest fundraising effort ever attempted by a college or university). At Yale Divinity School he also served as chaplain to the school's United Methodist students.

Schrum left Yale to become director of development at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Penn. In 1978 he returned to Texas to be the vice president of Texas Wesleyan College. Three years later, Schrum was asked by his alma mater, Southwestern University, to serve as vice president for university relations. As Southwestern's advancement program began earning a national reputation, Schrum was invited to become vice president for development and planning at Emory University. There, he directed the university's last major mega-campaign--the $400 Million Campaign for Emory. In 1991, having served at Emory for more than six years, Schrum was elected the 17th President of Texas Wesleyan University in Ft. Worth.

During his time at Texas Wesleyan, the university's endowment more than doubled from $22 million to $50 million, and the enrollment increased from 1,429 to 3,000 students. The annual fund also doubled from $450,000 to just over $900,000. A law school was acquired and fully accredited by the American Bar Association and a $12 million campus was built for the law school in downtown Fort Worth. A Weekend University, an MBA program, a distance-learning program in graduate education, as well as a bilingual education program also were established. Texas Wesleyan's budget grew from $11 million to $32 million in just eight years, and the university garnered resources amounting to almost $40 million.

In January 2000, Schrum was elected president of Southwestern University. He took office July 1, 2000.

In his many civic, professional, and service activities, Schrum has served as Chair of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, the world's largest international education association. He is a former Chair of the Board of Directors of the Associated Colleges of the South, the Southern University Conference, Independent Colleges and Universities of Texas, the Chisholm Trail Communities Foundation, and the Georgetown Project. He serves on the Board of Directors of Richmond: The American International University in London, the Educational and Institutional Insurance Administrators, the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference, the Association of Texas Colleges and Universities, the Texas Independent College Foundation, and First Texas Bank in Georgetown. He also serves on the Council of Presidents of the Association of Governing Boards.

Schrum is a member of the American Council on Education, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, the Council of Independent Colleges, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the National Association of Schools and Colleges of the United Methodist Church, the Annapolis Group, the Philosophical Society of Texas, and the Austin Area Research Organization. Schrum is a consultant and a frequent lecturer on topics related to the advancement of higher education. He is one of the leading proponents of the New Urban University concept in higher education and wrote a book titled Democracy's Last Stand: The Role of the New Urban University. The Association of Governing Boards in Washington, D.C., published a book, edited by Schrum, titled A Board's Guide to Comprehensive Campaigns. He edited Justice for All for Southwestern University. He received the Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Southwestern University in 1991.