Prof. Jones opens up about his mental illness in Chronicle of Higher Education article

For Professor James T.R. Jones, his bipolar disorder is just one aspect of who he is. 

"I don’t want students to think about me as the mentally ill professor," he says in a new article in The Chronicle of Higher Education. "I want to be a professor who happens to have severe mental illness."

Jones opens up more about how he lives with mental illness while in an academic setting in the article.

He also credits Professor Laura Rothstein, who was dean of the law school at the time he had to take a leave of absence after a breakdown. 

"When he returned to teaching, she allowed him to ease back into his academic duties, teaching one class without any required service or research," states the article. "Without her support, he says, 'I wouldn’t have made it.' "

The article features three other professors from around the country, all with different mental illnesses, neurobiological disorders or learning disorders.