(High resolution photos of Floyd taken on the day of the presidential announcement are available for downlaod at .)
Elson S. Floyd, president of the four-campus University of Missouri, was named Dec. 13 by the Washington State University Board of Regents as the university's 10th president.
He will succeed WSU President V. Lane Rawlins, who will retire in June after serving as WSU president for seven years.
"Elson Floyd is truly one of the outstanding leaders in higher education in the United States today. The breadth of his experience is exceptional. The regents were most impressed by his vision and his clear understanding of how to move an institution forward. We think he is the ideal person to continue the progress that WSU has made under President Rawlins," said Kenneth Alhadeff, chair of the WSU Board of Regents.
Floyd, 50, has served as president of the University of Missouri since November, 2002. During his tenure at Missouri, he has won praise as a hard-working, charismatic and visionary leader for his university while dealing with tough budget issues. The University of Missouri has a total enrollment of more than 63,000 students on four campuses, located in Columbia, Kansas City, St. Louis and Rolla. The system also includes University of Missouri health care, which provides services in hospitals and clinics around the state.
Floyd served as president of Western Michigan University from 1999 to 2002, and held several administrative positions at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, including deanships in student affairs and the College of Arts and Sciences.
Previously, he spent two years as executive director of the Washington State Higher Education Coordinating Board, the agency responsible for statewide coordination, planning, oversight, policy analysis and student financial aid programs for Washington's post-secondary education system. From 1990 to 1993, he served as vice president for student services, vice president for administration and executive vice president at Eastern Washington University.
A native of Henderson, N.C., 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.
Floyd is married to Carmento Floyd; they have two grown children.