OXFORD - Dan Jones quoted Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. He spoke about his own experiences in China, Russia and Iran. And he acknowledged the presence of the North Korean ambassador to the United Nations, who was among the many guests at Friday's ceremony.

As Jones stood at the lectern in the Gertrude C. Ford Center at his investiture as the University of Mississippi's 16th Chancellor in 162 years, he spoke about a vision that reached far beyond Oxford.

"We are a public university in Mississippi and we need to focus on the needs around us, but we also need to focus on what the needs of our world are," Jones said after delivering his speech.

Reflecting the state of the current economy, the ceremony was restrained in pomp. While Jones spoke on stage, all the lights in the building were dimmed and a single spotlight shone on the university's new leader. A bouquet of flowers sat on the floor in front of him.

"We should be less concerned about the general state of the economy than about the growing disparity between those who have and those who have not," Jones said during his speech.

"And I need not remind this audience that to see some of the starkest examples of these disparities, we need only look at our own doorstep."

Among the guests at the ceremony were U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, U.S. Rep. Travis Childers, former Govs. William Winter and Ronnie Musgrove, current Gov. Haley Barbour and the university's previous chancellor, Robert Khayat.

Barbour said Jones begins as chancellor during a time when tough decisions must be made because of budget cuts.

"He has almost as good of a storm going here as I did with Katrina," Barbour said. "The good news is he is up to it."

Jones spoke much about transforming the university and making it more accessible.

"Let's assure that we not allow barriers, real or perceived, which exclude any from this opportunity at the University of Mississippi," Jones said, referring to the new Ole Miss Opportunity scholarship, which will be for students with significant financial need.

Jones, who took over as Ole Miss chancellor in July, also spoke in his speech about being mindful of the state's needs.

"We must be reminded that we are a successful flagship liberal arts university in the poorest state in our nation," Jones said. "As we continue our progress as a university, I call on this university community to be more keenly aware of the gap between our achievement as a university and the stark needs of the world around us."

Hank Bounds, Mississippi's commissioner of higher education, said after the speech that Jones' leadership qualities impressed him.

"He clearly has his eyes on the horizon and is focused on what is best for the people of Mississippi," Bounds said.

Jones announced a goal of increasing the faculty support endowment by $100 million and spoke about the need to close the gap in faculty pay between Ole Miss and its peer universities.

The new chancellor has emphasized service since taking over the university's top position, and on Friday he again called for the community to be "purposeful about a spirit of service."

The university focused on service in the week preceding Jones' ceremony and announced Friday that more than 140 service projects, classes and groups had been registered with a service Web site set up by the university, http://service.olemiss.edu.

"Service is emphasized on our campus more than ever and that is attributable to Chancellor Jones," said Artair Rogers of Guntown, president of the Associated Student Body.

Jones used the word "purposeful" five times in his speech. Afterward, he was asked just what that word means to him.

"There are some things a university will do just becuase it falls in the course of events," Jones said. "The idea is of us being a service institution in a part of the country that has high needs. I want us to be purposeful in how we look at that and how we respond to that."

Contact Chris Kieffer at (662) 678-1590 or chris.kieffer@djournal.com.