Rutgers’ Board of Governors Names Richard L. McCormick President Emeritus, Board of Governors Professor of History and Education

The State University of New Jersey’s 19th president, McCormick was honored at the board’s final regular meeting of the 2011-2012 academic year. He has spent much of his professional career at Rutgers since joining the faculty in 1976 as an assistant professor in the Department of History, where he served as chair for two years. McCormick, who was dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences from 1989 to 1992, was appointed president in December 2002.

Prior to his return to Rutgers, he served as executive vice chancellor, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and as president at the University of Washington.

McCormick, 64, announced he would step down as president in May 2011, effective June 30, 2012. Following a one-year sabbatical, he will return to the faculty to teach and start research for his fourth book.

Ralph Izzo, chair of the Board of Governors, praised McCormick’s unwavering dedication to Rutgers during a decade of academic change and fiscal challenges. “Dick McCormick’s leadership has made Rutgers a stronger institution,” Izzo said. “He has been a champion for academic excellence, increased diversity among the faculty and student body, and has spoken out for increased state support for higher education throughout New Jersey.”

A series of successful academic initiatives spearheaded by McCormick has placed Rutgers in the top tier of public research universities, Izzo added.

Among the path-breaking programs initiated by McCormick are the Transformation of Undergraduate Education in New Brunswick, the most significant reorganization of the university in a quarter-century; the Rutgers Future Scholars Program; and the Byrne Family First-Year Seminars.

McCormick also has expanded opportunities for undergraduate research and strengthened honors programs; oversaw the establishment of the School of Public Affairs and Administration in Newark and the development of the nation’s first doctoral degree program in childhood studies in Camden; and fostered cross-disciplinary collaboration in such areas as nutrition, materials and devices, stem cell research, genetics, transportation, urban entrepreneurship, climate change and alternative energy. 

Additionally, in times of declining state support, he has sought new revenue streams and has encouraged an entrepreneurial spirit among deans and administrators to support new, creative academic programming. He has authorized capital investments across the university, including new state-of-the-art classrooms, labs and residence halls. His vision for transforming the Livingston Campus in Piscataway into a center for business and professional education is well under way. Under his stewardship, Rutgers’ budget grew from $1.4 billion in 2002-2003 to $2.2 billion in 2011-2012.

With McCormick as president, Rutgers has achieved record levels of applications and enrollment – more than 58,000 students attend all Rutgers units – and with an estimated 13,465 graduates, the Class of 2012 was the university’s largest in its 246-year history.

McCormick also launched the historic Our Rutgers, Our Future: A campaign for Excellence, which has raised, through April, a record $626 million in private donations, and is well on its way to reaching a goal of $1 billion. He has been an articulate advocate for both a New Jersey higher education bond issue and the merger of UMDNJ’s Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, School of Public Health and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey with Rutgers.