Michigan Technological University’s Board of Trustees has appointed Professor Richard J. Koubek as the President of the Michigan Technological University starting July 1. Koubek will serve as the 10th president of the oldest university in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
According to Stefanie Sidortsova, a leading communication strategist for the university and special assistant for state relations, the Board announced their decision on April 13. She also revealed in an article that Koubek was appointed “from a pool of four semi-finalist candidates brought forward for consideration by a 14-member Presidential Search Committee that included student, faculty, staff, alumni and community representatives.”
Terry Woychowski, chair of the Michigan Tech Board of Trustees remarked the article that Koubek “has a profound and passionate vision of the role Michigan Tech will play in our nation’s prosperity, and the betterment of the world, as he leads this historic university in developing and delivering – on a global scale – the solutions to some of society’s most vexing challenges. I believe that Dr. Koubek was born for this time, this place and this position.” Bill Johnson, a Board member and chair of the search committee also told Sidortsova that “Dr. Koubek clearly demonstrated wonderful leadership and people skills that will serve all of us well as we move forward to build a great future at Michigan Tech.” Johnson also thanked everyone who has been involved in the search.
Expressing his delight at his new position, president-elect Koubek said, “Michigan Tech is a technological university in its finest sense, where it is a leader in technology for sure, but also in the implications of technology on our environment, on our society, on our humanity.” He concluded, “I am excited to be part of the Michigan Tech team that is going to define a new frontier where technology, humanities and the social sciences converge around creating a sustainable, just and prosperous world, and educating the next generation of students who will carry that forward.”
Koubek succeeds Professor Glenn Mroz who has served as university president since 2004. Before he became president of MTU, Mroz was the Dean of the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science for four years. He joined the school as a faculty member in 1980. An alumnus of Michigan Tech, Dr. Mroz holds a B.S. and M.S. degree in Forestry and a Ph.D. degree in Forestry from North Carolina State University. He chairs the Council State Universities of Michigan and was a chair of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Council of Presidents.
Koubek comes to his new position with over 30 years of experience in academia as faculty and administrator. Before his appointment, he was the executive vice president and provost of Louisiana State University. He was also the dean of the College of Engineering and the Bert S. Turner Chair in Engineering and head of Pennsylvania State University’s Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering.
Among the many honors that he received for his work are the NASA Group Achievement Award; the 2013 Governor’s Technology Award for Outstanding Leadership in Technology for Louisiana; BASF’s 2014 Professor of Excellence Award; the 2016 Outstanding Industrial Engineer of the Year, School of Industrial Engineering at Purdue University; the 1995 Pritsker Outstanding Teaching Award, School of Industrial Engineering at Purdue University and received recognition as Department Chair of the Year, College of Engineering at Wright State University in 2001.
Koubek was born in Berwyn, Illinois and holds bachelor’s degrees in biblical literature, with a minor in chemistry, from Oral Roberts University, and in psychology from Northeastern Illinois University. He also holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. in industrial engineering from Purdue University.
