Dr. Christopher B. Howard, currently the president of Hampden-Sydney College, has been named the eighth president of Robert Morris University.
Howard, 46, a decorated Air Force veteran, will take the helm of RMU in February.
“I’m extraordinarily honored and humbled,” Howard said in an interview with Diverse. “Robert Morris University is a catalyst for the economy and region.”
Howard was on the campus of the Pittsburgh institution earlier this week with his wife, Barbara, meeting with faculty, staff and students during the university’s annual Fall Mixer.
For years, veteran presidents have called Howard a rising star and have pointed to his military background and his early career at General Electric and Bristol-Myers Squibb, as someone whose trajectory toward the college presidency was untraditional.
Since becoming president of Hampden-Sydney College in 2009, Howard was consistently praised for helping to grow enrollment and retention at the small liberal arts college for men located in Virginia. During his tenure at the college, alumni giving reached 33 percent, and he was instrumental in helping to procure the largest financial gift in the college’s 240-year history.
“The Search Committee was impressed with the way Dr. Howard was able to build on the traditions of his current institution and translate those traditions to contemporary and more diverse populations,” said Richard Harshman, vice chair of the RMU board of trustees and chair of the presidential search committee. “He expressed early insights on how RMU’s distinctive culture and core values can foster an even stronger common bond between students and graduates of different eras and demographics. This will be essential as RMU continues to evolve in order to achieve its next level of success.”
