Biography
President Charles Middleton

Charles R. Middleton is President of Roosevelt University. Under Dr. Middleton’s leadership, Roosevelt has gained a national reputation for being a fiscally disciplined organization that is committed to student success.

Since assuming the Presidency in 2002, Dr. Middleton has strengthened and expanded the University’s curriculum through a thoughtful program review process that included the elimination of small programs and the strategic expansion of programs vital to today’s marketplace. In addition, during this time the University has hired innovative college deans, created a new College of Pharmacy and appointed a record number of new full-time faculty members.

Perhaps his major accomplishment has been changing Roosevelt from a primarily commuter university with part-time adult students to a more traditional-age university where the majority of students are studying full-time with approximately 10 percent living in University housing. This was accomplished by revamping the University’s student affairs programming and revising the University’s recruitment strategies.

Under his guidance, credit hours taken by Roosevelt students have grown to the highest level in the University’s history. In addition, the University’s retention and six-year graduation rates, the major indicators of student success, have improved dramatically.

Prior to joining Roosevelt, Dr. Middleton was Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University System of Maryland, Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Bowling Green State University and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

A fellow of Great Britain’s Royal Historical Society, Dr. Middleton’s academic expertise is in modern British history from the late 18th Century to the early 19th Century. During his career, he has taught more than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students, written more than 70 scholarly papers and is the author of the book The Administration of British Foreign Policy, 1782-1846. Dr. Middleton earned an AB degree with honors in history from Florida State University and both an MA and PhD in history from Duke University.

Among many professional and civic commitments, Dr. Middleton is on the Board of Directors of the American Council on Education (ACE) and immediate past chair of the Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and Universities. He also served on the board of the Chicago 2016 Olympic Bid Committee and serves on the boards of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute in Hyde Park, N.Y., the Center on Halsted (where he chairs the Finance Committee and serves as Treasurer of the Center), the Chicago Central Area Committee, the Near South Planning Board, the Point Foundation and the Chicago History Museum Community Advisory Council. He is a member of Rotary One, the Economic Club of Chicago, the Executives’ Club, and the Commercial Club of Chicago.

11/09