College of Charleston Board of Trustees Chair David Hay provided the following message to the campus community on Nov. 28, 2018, regarding the university’s next president:

Dear Campus Community, 

Today, history was made. I am pleased to announce that the Board of Trustees elected Andrew T. Hsu to become the 23rd president of the College of Charleston.

Dr. Hsu is an extraordinary individual – he is a scholar, a community builder, a fundraiser and a visionary leader. We were all impressed with Dr. Hsu’s experience, his accomplishments in forming industry partnerships, his commitment to diversity and his passion for the liberal arts. Over the course of the search process, Dr. Hsu has not only proven himself a great higher-education thinker, but also a great doer, with a track record of inspiring accomplishments across his career. 

We will hold a campus welcome event for Dr. Hsu early next semester after we finalize the details of his contract and start date. However, in the meantime, let me share a few more details about Dr. Hsu.

Dr. Hsu was born in China and completed his undergraduate degree at Tsinghua University, a major research university in Beijing. After earning his master’s and doctoral degrees in aerospace engineering from Georgia Tech, he worked in the private sector at Sverdrup Technology (a NASA contractor) and Rolls-Royce North America in Indianapolis. He then entered academia as a director of the aerospace program at the University of Miami. Dr. Hsu would go on to assume different leadership positions at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), Purdue University, Wright State University and San Jose State University. Currently, he is the provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of Toledo. We could not be more pleased with his distinguished academic pedigree. 

On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I want to thank our campus community for their input throughout this process, including at the listening sessions last spring and the public forums earlier this month. We believe that we have chosen a person who will uphold our institution’s core values and will work strategically and tirelessly to lead the College into its next great chapter. 

I especially want to recognize our presidential search firm consultants, Bill Funk and Willie Funk of R. William Funk and Associates, and the Presidential Search Committee: Trustee Demetria Noisette Clemons, Trustee Cherry Daniel, Godfrey Gibbison (dean, School of Professional Studies; interim dean, Graduate School), Liz Jurisich (Speaker of the Faculty; mathematics professor), Greg Padgett (former trustee and board chair), Trustee Renee Romberger and Trustee Ricci Welch. They did an exceptional job and laid the groundwork for today. I want to call special attention to the leadership of Presidential Search Chair Renee Romberger throughout this search. She has done her alma mater a great service, and we are forever in her debt.

With Dr. Hsu, I am confident we have found a leader who will inspire our students, faculty, staff, alumni, donors, friends and partners in the community and state legislature.

The Board of Trustees is looking forward to Dr. Hsu, his wife, Dr. Rongrong Chen, and their four daughters joining our College of Charleston family.

 

Sincerely,

David

 

David M. Hay ’81

Chair, College of Charleston Board of Trustees