Leo Warren Jenkins (May 28, 1913 – January 14, 1989) was the sixth president and chancellor of what is now East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, United States.

Leo Warren Jenkins
Jenkins pictured in The Buccaneer 1948, East Carolina yearbook
President/Chancellor of East Carolina University
In office 1960–1978
Preceded by	John Decatur Messick
Succeeded by	Thomas Bowman Brewer
Personal details
Born	(1913-05-28)May 28, 1913 Succasunna, New Jersey
Died	January 14, 1989(1989-01-14) (aged 75) Greenville, North Carolina

He was born in the Succasunna section of Roxbury, New Jersey and raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He attended Rutgers University, majoring in political science a masters from Columbia University and a doctorate from New York University. He enlisted in World War II as a marine, serving during the battle of Guam. Jenkins joined the faculty of East Carolina Teachers College in 1947 and served as Dean of the school until his election to the presidency in 1960. Under his watch, East Carolina gained university status in 1967. When ECU became part of the University of North Carolina System in 1972, Jenkins stayed on as chancellor, retiring in 1978. The Leo W. Jenkins Cancer Center at the Brody School of Medicine was named for him.^[1]