Elson S. Floyd, the tenth president of Washington State University, is a nationally known academic leader. Before taking the helm at WSU on May 21, 2007, he was president of the four-campus University of Missouri for four years and before that president of Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo for more than four years. He also held administrative posts at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and at Eastern Washington University, and was executive director of the Washington State Higher Education Coordinating Board.

A native of Henderson, N.C., Dr. Floyd holds a bachelor of arts degree in political science and speech, a master of education degree in adult education, and a doctor of philosophy degree in higher and adult education, all from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Floyd received the 2005 Communicator of the Year Award from the Mid-Missouri Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America and the 2004 James C. Kirkpatrick Award for public service from the Northwest Missouri Press Association. Among his other honors are the 2004 Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Dr. Floyd’s high school, Darlington School, in Georgia.

At WSU, Floyd has turned his attention to centers of research excellence around the university. He has worked with leaders of commodity groups and in the Legislature to gain support for expanded research programs to benefit agriculture, the state’s No. 1 industry. In the early weeks of his presidency, he launched the effort to create a School of Global Animal Health, which will build on the existing research strengths in College of Veterinary Medicine to make the university a leader in exploring the interconnections between human and animal diseases.

Access and accountability have been watchwords of the Floyd presidency. He is committed to making higher education available to all qualified students, regardless of economic status. He has stressed that his administration will safeguard all investments made in the university, whether by taxpayers or by private donors, and that the university stands ready to be judged by the results it achieves.

For more information about Dr. Floyd, please visit: http://president.wsu.edu/about-floyd/