About the President
Excellence - Fairness - Diversity - Honesty - Trust - Openness
Dr. Rollin C. Richmond became the sixth president of Humboldt State
University on July 1, 2002, following a distinguished career as a
faculty member, researcher in evolutionary biology, and academic administrator.
Upon his appointment to Humboldt's presidency, California State University Trustee Debra Farar, chair of the Presidential Search Committee, said "Dr. Richmond is a proven scholar who has left positive legacies at three major universities. He will build on the already high academic reputation of Humboldt State and expand it even farther across the country."
Prior to succeeding Dr. Alistair W. McCrone as president at Humboldt, Dr. Richmond, had been the provost at Iowa State University since 1999. He also held positions as provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the State University of New York (SUNY), Stony Brook from 1995 to 1999 and was dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of South Florida from 1990 to 1995. From 1970 to 1990 he served in academic and administrative positions at Indiana University.
"I am honored to serve Humboldt State University as its president," Dr. Richmond says. "Humboldt State faculty and staff are committed to providing students with a quality education that prepares them for fulfilling lives. I pledge to work with the university community and people of Humboldt County to strengthen the community and its university."
Proverbial fireworks illuminated Dr. Richmond's first days - and nights - as Humboldt State's sixth president. Since he launched his presidency, his schedule has been bursting with an array of activity late into the evening.
Amid a flurry that shows no signs of abating, Dr. Richmond's first few days in office included a visit with students and faculty in an art class, throwing out the first pitch of the Humboldt Crabs (a semi-pro community team for more than 50 years) baseball game on the Fourth of July, and later watching pyrotechnics with area civic leaders. He also met with students and instructors of Humboldt's Veterans Math-Science Initiative, attended the School of Business and Economics Watson Memorial Lecture on ethics, and convened an enrollment task force.
In his initial university address to faculty and staff in August, he credited them for making Humboldt State a fine university with a solid reputation throughout California, the nation and many parts of the world. He promised to work together to make Humboldt State what "we want the university to become."
Humboldt's purpose, Dr. Richmond says, is "to make a better world by helping people get the education they need to live fulfilling lives," while the university's mission will be "to provide quality education, generate new knowledge and help to use knowledge for individuals and our community."
He also outlined a set of values for Humboldt State - excellence, fairness, diversity, honesty, trust, and openness - and cited these as the university's goals:
- Be student-centered.
- Promote diversity of people and perspectives.
- Practice social and environmental responsibility.
- Be a role model for community involvement.
- Promote responsible economic development.
Dr. Richmond has been practicing what he's been teaching: He has an open line of communication with students, faculty, staff, alumni, news media, government officials, and other constituencies. He also regularly meets with a host of business, education and community leaders.
His leadership style, he says, has been influenced by Robert Greenleaf, author of "On Becoming a Servant Leader."
"I'm a real fan of the book," says Dr. Richmond. "Leadership is about service of the people you represent not about serving yourself.... What he proposes is not easy, but as he relates, it is effective. I also believe it is an appropriate style for institutions like HSU that adhere strongly to shared governance."
In moving further into the administrative realm, Dr. Richmond found he generally had to abandon one of his life's main pursuits: a lengthy trail of intensive research efforts in genetics and evolution. Over the course of more than 20 years beginning in 1972, his studies - funded largely by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health - led him to explore the "genetic origins of reproductive isolation," the reproductive behavior of fruit flies, neurotoxins and cocaine in mice, and the resistance of fruit flies to malathion.
Presenting his research has taken him to The Netherlands, Spain, Australia, and many U.S. cities, Though not as a presenter, he also attended a symposium in the Soviet Union in 1989.
However, over the past decade, as his research has waned due to administrative duties, he has shifted energy to campus and community involvements, including serving on the boards of the Long Island Technology Incubator while at SUNY Stony Brook, the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center at the University of South Florida, and local United Way efforts in Florida, New York , Iowa, and California.
Richmond received a Ph.D. in genetics from the Rockefeller University in 1971 and a bachelor's degree in zoology from San Diego State University in 1966.
Dr. Richmond and his wife, Dr. Ann Richmond, an accomplished medical school administrator, also collaborated with two others to secure a five-year, $2 million Howard Hughes Medical Institute grant to support undergraduate biology efforts at Indiana University in 1989.
The Richmonds have four adult children.