CofC Interim President Named

Interim President Named
FROM: Bobby Marlowe, Chairman, Board of Trustees
I am pleased to announce that Dr. Conrad Festa has been named the interim president of the College of Charleston. Festa will serve in the position until a replacement is hired for outgoing College of Charleston President Lee Higdon.From 1987 until 2002, Dr. Festa was the Academic Vice President and Provost at the College of Charleston. He is currently the Executive Director of the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education. He will step down from that job and assume the duties of interim President of the College of Charleston on July 1, 2006.

“It is like coming home,” says Dr. Festa. “I am proud and humbled to be selected.”

Dr. Conrad D. Festa

In September 2003, Dr. Conrad Festa became the Executive Director of the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education. He is a graduate of Wheaton College (A.B., Economics, 1952), Cornell University (M.A., Literature, 1960) and University of South Carolina (Ph.D., Literature, 1968). Prior to being named the Commission’s Executive Director, Dr. Festa served most recently as the Executive Assistant to the President at the College of Charleston (2001 - April 2003) and before that as the College’s Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost and as Professor of English (1987-2001).

He has taught and held administrative positions at Old Dominion University in Virginia including those of Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Letters (1985-1987); Chair of the Department of English (1980-1985); and Professor of English (1961-1987). He is the founder of The Institute for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education at the College of William and Mary and has served as the director since 1978. He is a member of the founding team of the Consortium for Public Liberal Arts Colleges and is a member of accreditation team for Southern Association for Colleges and Schools and for the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.
He has numerous publications, academic presentations and academic consultancies and holds several distinguished awards including: Honorary Doctorate from the College of Charleston (2001), Danforth Fellow (1980), Delta Phi Omega Distinguished Faculty Award (1974), and Modern Language Association Award for Teaching Excellence (1972).

Dr. Festa has also provided service to the nation as a member of the United States Navy (1952-1957).