Richard Ekman

President Emeritus
Council of Independent Colleges

PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENTS

  • Created new programs for college presidents, provosts, librarians, faculty members, IR directors, IT directors and others.
  • Led a public information campaign, "Securing America’s Future," promoting the liberal arts and independent higher education.
  • Recipient of the W.E. B. DuBois Medal of Harvard University and numerous honorary degrees.

Richard Ekman is president emeritus of the Council of Independent Colleges, following 21 years as its president. He previously served as vice president of Atlantic Philanthropies, secretary and senior program officer of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, director of both the Division of Education Programs and the Division of Research Programs at the National Endowment for the Humanities, vice president and dean of Hiram College, and assistant to the provost of the University of Massachusetts at Boston.

Ekman is co-author and co-editor (with Richard Quandt) of Technology and Scholarly Communication and has published essays in Inside Higher Ed, Chronicle of Higher Education, University Business, Carnegie Reporter, Humanities and The Washington Post . He earned his A.B. and Ph.D. degrees in the history of American civilization at Harvard University.