Gregory S. Woodward, president of Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis., has been named president of the University of Hartford, effective July 1.
Woodward has served as president at Carthage since 2012. He replaces Walter Harrison, who will retire on June 30, after serving 19 years as president.
The University of Hartford Board of Regents made the appointment unanimously Tuesday. Woodward will be the university’s sixth president in its 59-year history.
A composer, musician, athlete, and scholar, Woodward has spent nearly four decades working in many roles in higher education. Under his leadership, Carthage recently completed a 10-year strategic plan, “Carthage in the Year 2025.” And he created Carthage’s first President’s Task Force on Diversity.
“The university is well on its way to becoming a leading model for higher education in the 21st century,” said Woodward. “I am tremendously inspired and energized to work with the full complement of the community to further realize the vast potential of the university.”
University of Hartford Board of Regents Chair Lucille Nickerson said Woodward stood out prominently during the extensive national search for a university president.
“Greg emerged as the clear leader,” said Nickerson. “We began our search by listening carefully to the UHart community about the qualities and experience it felt important to have in the university’s next leader. Greg’s experience and accomplishments align with an ambitious vision for this university.
Woodward earned his doctor of musical arts from Cornell University, where he was a student of Pulitzer Prize-winning Czechoslovakian composer Karel Husa. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut and his master’s degree from Ithaca College. He was a fellow in higher education at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education and is a graduate of Harvard’s New President Institute.
