Named President of Daniel Webster College

Dr. John F. Egan, chair of the Daniel Webster College board of trustees, announced that Dr. Robert E. Myers, chancellor of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s (ERAU) extended campus, has been named as Daniel Webster College’s next president, effective July 1, 2005.

The 54-year old Myers succeeds Hannah M. McCarthy, who announced last August that she planned to step down after 25 years as president of the 39-year old institution.

Committed to academic excellence, Dr. Myers has a record of significant achievement. He executed initiatives at ERAU to improve the quality and currency of both faculty and curricula. He focused primary emphasis on academic excellence among the institution’s faculty by reorganizing the campus and reallocating campus resources, and he implemented the campuses’ first “Board of Visitors,” populated with nationally and internationally recognized leaders in aerospace, aviation, higher education and research. Committed equally to students, their needs and providing student-centered support, he launched and raised seed funding and corporate support for an extensive scholarship program.

Under his strategic leadership as executive vice president and chief operating officer at University of Maryland University College (UMUC), Dr. Myers oversaw global implementation of a $40 million management information system, co-founded a for-profit affiliated spin-off corporation, and developed entrepreneurial relationships with the U.S. Armed Forces.

Egan said Myers' proven visionary capacity to forward the programs at Embry-Riddle and UMUC is impressive. "We are confident that he will lead Daniel Webster College to its next levels of achievement. With his experience, Dr. Myers brings a tremendous skill set to Daniel Webster that will ignite the potential Daniel Webster has to become a significant force in higher education, both regionally and nationally."

Dr. Myers noted that Daniel Webster College enjoys an enormously successful reputation nationally. "The College is not only well known in the [aviation] tradition from which it sprung, but in its efforts in reaching out and broadening its curricular activities." Additionally, he added, Daniel Webster has remained true to its commitment to being a stellar teaching college. "That really appeals to me." He also captured the sense of excitement that the community has about the institution's future. "There is enormous enthusiasm and energy on campus, which is absolutely imperative for an institution that has aspirations to grow to the 'next level.'"

Dr. Robert F. Collings, vice chair of the board of trustees, led the 12-member presidential search committee of trustees, faculty, students, staff and alumni. "As an academic and administrator leader, Dr. Myers will strive to position Daniel Webster to meet emerging opportunities while retaining what is so essential to the success of our mission," said Collings.

Dr. Myers received his Ph.D. in Higher Education Policy, Planning and Administration from the University of Maryland College Park. He also holds the certificate of completion in the Center for Creative Leadership's "Leadership Development Program," as well as that for the Oxford "Roundtable for Higher Education Leadership," Oxford University. He sits on the American Council of Education's Commission on Lifelong Learning. In addition to his PhD Dr. Myers holds bachelor of science and master of arts degrees in journalism from the University of Maryland College Park.

Myers and his wife Gretchen have three children, Kate, 22; Dylan, 13; and Libby, 8. The entire family, he noted, is anxious to return to a location with four "real" seasons.

FMI: www.dwc.edu