University Presidents

A history of University leadership

Black and white headshot of LeRoy Brown.

Leroy Brown

1st president
1887-1889

Brown, a former Ohio education commission member, was a cashier at an Ohio bank when he was selected by the Nevada Board of Regents to serve as president. A veteran of the Civil War, Brown selected his first assistant and faculty member, Hannah K. Clapp of Carson City, who would go on to serve the University as librarian and instructor for 14 years. Within two years Brown built a faculty of 10 and student body of 127 in the fields of Liberal Arts and Mechanical Arts, Normal School, Mining and Agriculture, and a Commercial Department.

Black and white image of Stephen Jones, wearing a suit and sitting in his office, with a desk piled with papers behind him.

Stephen Jones

2nd president
1889-1894

Jones came to the University from a high school in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He was a student of classical languages, receiving his training from Dartmouth and at the universities at Munster and Bonn in Germany. The faculty increased to 15 members during his presidency, and enrollment grew to 179 in his final year as president. The University observed its first graduating class, in 1891, during the Jones presidency.

Joseph Stubbs wears a suit and bow tie and sits in his office at the University of Nevada, Reno

Joseph Stubbs

3rd president
1894-1914

Stubbs took over an institution that had seen six principals and two presidents in 20 years. Over his 20-year tenure, Stubbs would provide stability and vision to the University. In 1894, the University had five buildings. By 1900, there were 11, including two student dormitories and a gymnasium. He encouraged the establishment of more high schools in the state to ensure the University’s students were well-prepared for the rigors of higher education.

Black and white headshot of Archer Hendrick

Archer Hendrick

4th president
1914-1917

Hendrick was Canadian-born and was president of Whitman College in Washington when he was appointed.

Black and white headshot of Walter Clark

Walter Clark

5th president
1918-1938

Clark studied at Ohio Wesleyan University and Columbia, and was known for scholarly research in economics and business, as well as a distinguished 15-year teaching career at City College of New York. The growth of the University’s physical facilities continued under Clark, including the expansion of the football stadium, construction of $415,000 Mackay Science Hall, and the opening of a new $250,000 library. Clark was known for his support of academic freedom, and often defended the faculty in its name.

Black and white headshot of Leon W. Hartman, who is wearing a suit and round glasses.

Leon W. Hartman

6th president
1938-1943

Hartman, a faculty member, succeeded President Walter Clark, who was in poor health during his final year of the presidency. From acting president in 1938 he was formally inaugurated in 1939. He insisted on academic freedom and welcomed faculty participation in the University’s affairs. He was only the second University president to die in office.

Black and white image of John Moseley dressed in academic attire shaking the hands of a gentleman carrying papers and a hat

John O. Moseley

7th president
1944-1949

Moseley was acting dean of students at the University of Tennessee when he was appointed. Originally from Texas, he had received his A.B. degree from Austin College and attended Oxford. The University saw a brief upsurge in enrollment in the years immediately following World War II, as students under the G.I. Bill flocked to college campuses. It was during this period when the University acquired benefactor Max C. Fleischmann’s 258-acre farm near east Reno.

Black and white image of Arthur K. Bourne (left), University President Malcolm Love (center), and Mrs. Alberta Bourne (right) stand in front of the donated Buick Aerocar car and the Zephyr trailer

Malcolm A. Love

8th president
1950-1952

Love received his advanced training at the University of Iowa. He welcomed input from faculty and students about the direction of the University. An academic council was established to advise his administration. He met regularly with the Student Life Council and was considered a forerunner of how modern university presidents seek student participation in an institution’s affairs. His administration came to later be known as the “era of good feelings.”

Black and white headshot of Minard W. Stout

Minard W. Stout

9th president
1952-1957

Stout brought a stern leadership style when he arrived on campus and had strong chain-of-command feelings that ran counter to academic freedom. This led to the eventual resignation of several key faculty members, and more than 300 students demonstrated against the Stout administration. Stout was eventually fired.

Black and white image of Charles Armstrong wearing a suit and resting his hands on a chair with a bookcase behind him

Charles Armstrong

10th president
1958-1967

In his inaugural address, Armstrong spoke of a new beginning for the campus: “I conceive that it must be my most urgent and continuing responsibility to do all within my power to maintain a certain atmosphere both within and without the University. Within the University this means an atmosphere of freedom, and of the responsibility inherent in freedom..."  Armstrong’s words heralded a new time of campus healing and a new sense of purpose for the University. He stimulated research, erected the Getchell Library, implemented a sabbatical leave program to further spur faculty productivity and supported the founding of the University of Nevada Press.

Black and white headshot of N. Edd Miller

N. Edd Miller

11th president
1967-1973

With reorganization and advent of a Nevada system of higher education in 1968, Miller became president of the University. Low-key, friendly and popular with the majority of students, Miller handled many campus issues that were a reflection of the student activism and war protests across America. Miller’s popularity was such that a counter-demonstration, specifically aimed to counter the occurrences on other campuses where protesting students had been tear-gassed, “N. Edd Miller Day,” was held on campus. More than 2,000 students attended. During his administration, with copious input from students, an Honors Program, Ethnic Studies Program and Environmental Studies Program were established.

Black and white image of Max Milam seated in his office wearing glasses in a suit and holding a pipe to his mouth.

Max Milam

12th president
1974-1978

Milam used his talents as a business and political manager while in office, and changed many of the University’s methods of operation. In taking the job, Milam felt the University needed to rebuild some of its linkages with the community; he also felt it needed to do a better job of relating its mission to the overall concerns of the community. Milam battled a difficult budget situation as the country slowly slid into recession starting in late 1975, and often felt state funding was lacking. During Milam’s tenure, the University appointed its first female dean outside of Home Economics or Nursing with the choice of Rebecca Stafford to head the College of Arts & Sciences.

Black and white image of Joe Crowley wearing a suit and standing in his office with a desk in the background

Joe Crowley

13th president
1978-2000

Following the dismissal of Max Milam, Crowley was appointed interim president in February 1978 and assumed the position on a regular basis a year later. When Crowley retired at the end of 2000, he was the longest-serving president at a single institution among the nation’s principal universities. Under his leadership, student enrollment grew to more than 12,000 by 1992. His presidential service included the establishment of a university foundation; completion of a major capital campaign; expansion of the campus School of Medicine into a statewide institution; development of a new core curriculum and founding of the new College of Human and Community Sciences and of the Reynolds School of Journalism.

John Lilley wearing a suit and tie, seated while looking at the camera

John Lilley

14th president
2001-2005

Lilley came to Nevada after serving as the president of Penn State Erie. As University president, Lilley led the campus through a comprehensive strategic planning process and presided over an expansion of the institution’s external funding and the creation of new research centers and institutes to further its scientific outreach. Through private fundraising and collaboration with the state government and the student body, he achieved approval of approximately $400 million in new buildings to campus. His efforts paved the way for the eventual opening of the Joe Crowley Student Union and the Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center.

Milton Glick wearing a blue suit, shirt and tie smiling at the camera

Milt Glick

15th president
2006-2011

Glick quickly won the campus over with his engaging personality, energy and emphasis on student success. In 2010-2011, the University set all-time records for enrollment and graduation. In addition, freshman retention rates reached 80 percent, also an institutional record. In fall 2010, for the first time in the University’s history, the University was named a Tier I school in U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings. When he died unexpectedly in April 16, 2011, at age 73, the campus mourned the loss of a president who had told all of Nevada during his inaugural address on Sept. 29, 2006 that, “The next Comstock Lode is not in the mines of Nevada. It is in the minds of Nevadans.”

Marc Johnson wearing a blue suit and blue tie standing in front of the Clark Administration Building with ivy hanging from the brick building.

Marc Johnson

16th president
2012-2020

Johnson joined the University as Provost in 2008. Upon the death of President Milt Glick in 2011, he served as interim president for one year until he was named president in April 2012. During his tenure the University posted enrollment and graduation figures, institutional records for the diversity and accomplishment of its student body, and investment by its donors. In late 2018, culminating a process and goal first stated by Johnson during his 2013 “State of the University” address, the University was elevated to an “R1” Carnegie research university, ranking among the top 130 doctoral universities with the highest levels of research excellence – a first for the state’s oldest institution of higher learning.

Headshot of Brian Sandoval, wearing a blue suit, blue tie and white shirt.

Brian Sandoval

17th president
2020-present

Prior to his appointment as president, Sandoval served two terms as the 29th Governor of the State of Nevada from 2011-2019. Appointed president in September 2020, Sandoval has launched a number of key initiatives stressing a long-term collaborative commitment to meet the ever-changing needs of Nevada. Example achievements include the Sierra Nevada University partnership and merger, a groundbreaking partnership between the University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine and Renown Health to establish a fully integrated health system, and the launch of Collegiate Academies, a dual enrollment effort to improve access to education in the Clark and Washoe County School Districts.