A WVU alumnus, Jay Cole returned to his alma mater in 2008 to serve as Chief of Staff for interim President C. Peter Magrath. He also served as Chief of Staff for President James Clements from 2009 to 2014, and Senior Advisor to President E. Gordon Gee from 2014 to 2025. In these roles, he helped to create and implement new initiatives to elevate WVU's national stature as a public, land-grant, flagship, research university.  After retiring in 2025, Jay continues to teach courses for the WVU Honors College.

Prior to working at WVU, Jay spent seven years in West Virginia state government as Deputy Secretary of Education and the Arts and education policy advisor to two governors. In these roles, he worked closely with the State Legislature and other state agencies to improve K-12 and higher education efficiency and effectiveness, strengthen the state's research capacity, and expand international opportunities for students and educators.

Jay's experiences in science and technology (S&T) policy, leadership, and communications include being a Mirzayan Fellow in S&T Policy at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; a member of the organizing committee for a National Academies Convocation on State S&T Policy Advice; a participant in the National Science Foundation's Future of the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) 2030 Workshop; and a member of NSF's Panel on Expanding State Participation in Research in the 21st Century. He is also a graduate of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) S&T Policy Leadership Academy.

He earned a PhD in Public Policy in Postsecondary Education from the University of Michigan, where his dissertation examined the diffusion of S&T policies among states. He earned a MA in Educational Policy and Leadership from The Ohio State University and a BA in History and Political Science from WVU.

His awards and honors include selection as a Truman Scholar by the federal Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, a Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellow by the US Department of Education, and an International Young Leader Delegate by the European Union Delegation to the United States. As an International Young Leader Delegate, he studied EU science and research policies and their possible applications in the US.