Elson Floyd - Academic Career

Academic Career

Before coming to Washington State University, where he is based on the main campus in Pullman, Washington, Floyd was the 21st president of the four-campus University of Missouri for four years (2003–2007). He was selected to lead Missouri’s land-grant research university on Nov 11, 2002.

Prior to that, he was the sixth president of Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan, taking office there August 1, 1998, and serving until January 5, 2003. While at Western Michigan University, he also was a tenured faculty member in the Department of Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology and in the Department of Teaching, Learning and Leadership.

Dr. Floyd spent from 1995 to 1998 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he served as chief administrative and operating officer and the senior official responsible for business and finance; human resources; auxiliary enterprises; student affairs; information technology; university advancement and development; and enrollment management.

For two years, 1993–1995, he was executive director of the Washington State Higher Education Coordinating Board, the agency responsible for statewide planning, policy analysis and student financial aid programs for Washington's post-secondary education system. From 1990 to 1993, Dr. Floyd served as vice president for student services, vice president for administration, and executive vice president at Eastern Washington University, Cheney, Washington. In the latter role, he was the university's chief operating officer.

WSU’s president started his career in 1978 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he held deanships in the Division of Student Affairs, the General College and the College of Arts and Sciences. From 1988 to 1990, he was assistant vice president for student services for the UNC system office, where he helped develop and articulate student affairs and academic affairs policy for the 16-campus university system.