George Fox University President David Brandt Announces Retirement

Brandt to retire in June after nine years at Oregon’s third largest private university.

(NEWBERG) - David Brandt, the 11th president of George Fox University, will retire June 30th after a four-decade career in Christian higher education.

He announced his decision to the George Fox Board of Trustees at its annual fall meeting held Oct. 20th-22nd.

Now in his ninth year at George Fox, Brandt has guided the university in the expansion of programs, facilities and locations. During his tenure, the university has grown from 2,345 students to 3,185. George Fox has transformed from a primarily undergraduate institution into a university with nearly equal graduate and undergraduate populations. Brandt has overseen an academic restructuring that created the position of provost and divided the university into six schools, each led by a dean. Eleven new undergraduate programs have been added, including engineering, nursing, political science, and theater. Six new graduate programs were started, including doctorates in education and management. New accreditations have been attained for athletic training, engineering, and social work programs.

“We have seen the university grow both in quantity and in quality,” Brandt said. “The university mission statement ‘to demonstrate the meaning of Jesus Christ’ through higher education is clearly being implemented, so the institution is healthy and ready for the next leader.”

“I’m extremely grateful for the selfless way David has given of himself to catapult our university into recognition as truly a best-in-class Christ-centered place of learning,” said Barbara Palmer, chair of the George Fox Board of Trustees and senior vice president of Bank of America.

The board of trustees will select the new president. The board this weekend appointed both a search committee and a transitions committee to oversee the process.

During the last eight years, George Fox has expanded its outreach beyond its Newberg, Portland, Salem and Boise centers to include sites in Clackamas County and Redmond. The Newberg campus, which was 77 acres at Brandt’s inauguration, now is approaching 109 acres, with the acquisition of the eight-acre Providence Newberg Hospital site and plans for future development of a 23-acre athletics complex north of the campus.

Brandt oversaw the 2001 construction of the $7 million Stevens Center, the 2004 addition/renovation of historic Wood-Mar Hall, the 2006 renovation of Hoover Academic Building, and the 2006 construction of Le Shana Residence Hall. Brandt also commissioned the award-winning architectural firm ZGF to create a 40-year master plan for the Newberg campus in 2004.

Off-campus, Brandt has brought leadership and visibility to Northwest educational groups, including the Oregon Independent College Foundation and the Oregon Independent Colleges Association, which he chaired in 2003 and 2004. He also has given leadership to the Newberg community as a member of the Providence Newberg Hospital Yamhill Service Area Community Advisory Board, named in 2002.

Brandt, 68, came to George Fox in 1998 from Tabor College, in Hillsboro, Kan., where he was president from 1995 to August 1998. Prior to Tabor, Brandt was vice president and provost at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minn., dean and vice president for academic affairs at Messiah College in Grantham, Pa., and taught physics at Gordon College in Wenham, Mass.

Brandt earned a doctorate in physics from the University of Oklahoma in 1971 and a master of science degree in physics from Oklahoma in 1962. He did his undergraduate work at Wheaton College (Ill.), where he received a bachelor of science degree in physics with a minor in mathematics in 1960. He was an instructor in physics at Wheaton from 1963 to 1966.

Brandt taught physics in 1962-63 at the University of Omaha in Nebraska; was a demonstrator in physics at Brock University in St. Catherines, Ont., Canada, in 1968-69; was a part-time engineer at Raytheon Co. in Sudbury, Mass., between 1972 and 1974; and was a consulting engineer for International Telephone and Telegraph Corp. in Roanoke, Va., between 1975 and 1977. His research there on fiber optics resulted in two patent applications.

Brandt serves on the board of directors of Daystar University in Nairobi, Kenya, for which he organized the bachelor of arts program in the early 1980s.

He served five years (1989-94) on the Deans' Task Force for the Council of Independent Colleges, the last three as chair. He also served eight years (1987-95) on the Deans’ Council Executive Committee for the Christian College Consortium, the last three as chair.

In 1999, Brandt was one of 50 U.S. college and university presidents to receive the John Templeton Foundation presidential leadership award for his commitment to character development on campus. In 1995, he received the Dean’s Award from the Council of Independent Colleges. He is a member of Sigma Pi Sigma, the physics honor society, and a member of the American Association of Higher Education.