James Keith Motley (born January 28, 1956, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is a former academic administrator who served as the eighth chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Boston.

In 2005, University of Massachusetts (UMass) System President Jack Wilson recommended Michael F. Collins, former chief executive of Caritas Christi Health System, for the permanent role, despite the support shown for Motley by many students, staff, faculty, and community leaders, including Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino, a UMass Boston alumnus.

[9] As the first African American chancellor of UMass Boston, which is considered the most diverse public university in New England, Motley highlighted inclusion among its key missions.

On April 5, 2017, University of Massachusetts Boston officials announced that Motley would resign at the end of the academic calendar year on June 30, take a one-year sabbatical, and return as a tenured faculty member.

[37] In May 2019, the Pioneer Institute released a white paper co-authored by former Massachusetts State Representative Gregory W. Sullivan (who also served as the Massachusetts Inspector General) that reviewed records obtained from the UMass System Controller's Office (as well as other publicly available documents) that concluded that Motley and other UMass Boston administrators were scapegoated for the 2017 fiscal year $30 million budget deficit and that instead the approval by the System Board of Trustees of an accelerated 5-year capital spending plan in December 2014 without assuring that capital reserves would be made available to pay for the plan, as well as an error to a 5-year campus reserve ratio estimate prepared by the UMass Central Budget Office and presented to the System Board of Trustees in April 2016, was the cause of the $26 million in budget reductions implemented by interim Chancellor Barry Mills and that the reductions were made at the direction of the UMass Central Office.

[38][39] Additionally, the white paper states that KPMG's 2017 audit was not conducted in accordance with Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards or reported in accordance with auditing standards prescribed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and that the purchase of Mount Ida College in April 2018 was conducted by a wire transfer from the UMass System for $75 million without being included on the previously approved university capital plan at the time the UMass Central Office ordered the budget reductions rather than UMass Amherst purchasing the Mount Ida campus with loanable funds to be repaid with interest (and in contrast to how the transaction was described in a press statement issued by Meehan's office).

[41] In April 2023, UMass Boston administration named the dormitories constructed under the master plan Motley proposed in 2007 in honor of him and his wife at a dedication ceremony.

He also is the founder and education chair of Concerned Black Men of Massachusetts, Inc., and the Paul Robeson Institute for Positive Self-Development, an academic and social enrichment program for school-aged children of color.

On a national level, he has chaired the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and is a mentor for its Millennium Leadership Initiative, a premier leadership development program that provides individuals from underrepresented populations in high-ranking positions in higher education the opportunity to gain a broader understanding of the higher education landscape, develop skills, and build the networks needed to advance to the presidency.

[45] The Boston Business Journal also selected him to receive its 2014 Leaders in Diversity Awards, which honor companies and businesspeople for their leadership in promoting inclusiveness and economic opportunity.