The president acts as the school's chief executive officer, reporting to the board, and is tasked with providing leadership to the faculty and students, and represents the institution in public.
[1] The institution's first president was Henry Aubrey Strode, appointed in 1890,[2] and its 15th and current is James P. Clements, who assumed office in 2013.
Robert Cook Edwards had the longest tenure at 21 years,[4] and Walter T. Cox Jr. had the shortest at eight months.
Walter Riggs, already a professor at the university, chose to remain in his house upon becoming president.
Following his death, presidents Sikes and Poole also lived in the Riggs house.