8/13/12
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R-MC President Robert R. Lindgren receives
Honorary Doctor of Education degree from UF |
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President Lindgren delivers the commencement
address to 424 doctoral degree graduates |
The University of Florida (UF) conferred the Honorary Doctor of Education degree to Randolph-Macon College President Robert R. Lindgren during UF’s doctoral degree commencement ceremony on August 10, 2012. He delivered an inspirational commencement address about success to 424 doctoral degree graduates.
Read the text of President Lindgren's speech. Lindgren earned both a bachelor’s degree in business administration and a law degree from UF as well as a master’s degree from the University of Oxford. He then worked at UF from 1979 to 1994. His last six years there were spent as the vice president for development and alumni affairs, where he organized and directed the second-largest campaign for a public university in America at the time.
“I am deeply honored to receive this distinguished recognition from my alma mater,” said Lindgren. “The University of Florida had a profound impact on my life and career, and I am proud to be an alumnus.”
Lindgren became the 15th president of Randolph-Macon College on February 1, 2006 following nearly 12 years at the Johns Hopkins Institutions, where he served as vice president for development and alumni relations and led two of the largest campaigns in American higher education. Since his arrival in Ashland, freshmen applications have more than doubled and enrollment has grown by nearly 15%, and private support of Randolph-Macon has reached an all-time high with alumni participation in the
Randolph-Macon Fund growing to historically high levels. Lindgren’s passion for students has earned him the reputation as “the students’ president.”
“We at Randolph-Macon are proud and pleased that the University of Florida has chosen to recognize and honor its distinguished alumnus and former development head, and our President, Bob Lindgren, for his extraordinary career of contributions to higher education,” said Alan B. Rashkind ’69, chair of the R-MC Board of Trustees. “At Florida, again at Johns Hopkins, and now culminating and continuing at Randolph-Macon, Bob has demonstrated skilled and visionary leadership, for the lasting benefit of students, faculty, staff, alumni and institutions themselves. The University of Florida has acted wisely, and its doctoral degree graduates will be in for a treat when they are addressed at their commencement by President Lindgren.”
In April 2011, Randolph-Macon launched a $100 million capital campaign,
Building Extraordinary: The Campaign for Randolph-Macon College. The campaign is designed to gather the necessary resources to position the college for the next level of excellence. To date, over 80% of that goal has been reached. Under Lindgren’s leadership, the R-MC Master Plan is well underway with the completion of major projects such as
Andrews Hall, a 108-bed residence hall for freshmen; a new baseball facility,
The Hugh Stephens Field at Estes Park ; a new
Tennis Complex; the completely renovated
Day Field, home to R-MC football and lacrosse teams; and the new
John B. Werner Pavilion at McGraw-Page Library. The college has also renovated two classroom buildings,
Fox Hall and
Haley Hall, started construction of
Brock Commons, a new student center, and is aggressively fund-raising for a new science building as well.
Lindgren is actively engaged in the business and academic communities related to Randolph-Macon. He served on Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell’s Higher Education Commission in 2010-11 and now is the only private college president serving on the Commonwealth’s Higher Education Advisory Committee. Currently, Lindgren serves on the board of directors of the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce, the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, the World Affairs Council of Richmond, the Richmond Forum and on the advisory board of Virginians for High Speed Rail. He is the immediate past chair of the Council of Independent Colleges of Virginia, where he led the group of 29 private colleges and universities in the Commonwealth, and he is the past chair of the Virginia United Methodist Conference’s Association of Educational Institutions, representing five United Methodist Colleges and one secondary school in the Commonwealth.