Meet the next President of Saint Mary's College of California

Richard Plumb Named 30th President of Saint Mary’s College of California

Excerpt from Saint Mary’s College Announcement

“During his well-established 30-year career, Plumb has proven to be a higher education thought leader who inspires innovation and collaboration across diverse leadership teams and departments. He has a consultative leadership style and brings an analytical and creative process to problem solving and decision making. He is known for building relationships and is committed to shared governance. He is deeply dedicated to understanding Catholic intellectual tradition and educating the whole person.

Plumb has reimagined education and led many successful initiatives helping first-generation and underrepresented students, including launching: the Dougherty Family College; Morrison Family College of Health; the Center for Student Achievement, which brought together the strengths of Academic and Student Affairs to improve graduation and retention rates; and forming STELAR, which laid the foundation for an unprecedented shift to online teaching and remote working with the outbreak of COVID-19. Plumb’s wide-ranging experience, financial and business acumen, and demonstrated fundraising success make him uniquely qualified to be Saint Mary’s next president. 

Plumb is a first-generation college graduate and holds a BS, MS, and PhD in electrical engineering from Syracuse University. His teaching and research interests range from applied electromagnetics to ground-penetrating radars, and he has authored over 50 peer-reviewed journal and conference articles.

Plumb began his academic career at the University of Kansas and then served in leadership positions at Binghamton University and Loyola Marymount University, and has served in his current role at the University of St. Thomas since 2014.”