Francis L. Lawrence served as President of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey from 1990 to 2002. He was previously Provost of Tulane University, where he also served, on the national level, as President of the Association of Graduate Schools and part of a national task force on the doctoral dissertation. During his tenure as Rutgers President, Dr. Lawrence was a member of the Executive Committee of the Association of American Universities and represented the AAU on the Board of Directors of the American Council on Education.

He also worked with an Association of American Universities group that examined graduate education and made important recommendations, which have been implemented nation-wide. As a member of the Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land Grant Universities (1996-2000), he drafted the Commission's report on The Learning Society.

He is currently on an NCAA task force that is crafting a far-reaching plan for academic reform in intercollegiate athletics. Dr Lawrence was an early proponent of Baldrige-based quality improvement in higher education and initiated a university-wide program under the direction of Brent Ruben in the early 1990s. As President Emeritus and University Professor, he is now active in the advancement of student leadership development programs and serves as director of the Leadership Forum of the Rutgers Center for Organizational Development and Leadership. Dr. Lawrence's Ph.D. is in French classical literature. In recognition of his contributions to scholarship and cultural exchange, he has been awarded the title Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Palmes Academiques by the French government.

Email: fll@odl.rutgers.edu