Dr. David Rowe became the 30th President of Centenary College of Louisiana in August 2009. President Rowe came to Centenary from LaGrange College in LaGrange, Ga., where he served as Vice President for Advancement for nine years.

Arriving during a time of great economic uncertainty for the nation and for the College, Dr. Rowe called upon the Centenary community to define church-related liberal arts education for the 21st century. Leading into an era of enormous change in the higher education landscape, Centenary responded by articulating three global challenges of the 21st century that every one of its graduate should be able to engage with wisdom, compassion and moral responsibility.

The 21st Century Global Challenges are:

• Expanding circles of relationships, engaging people of difference with civility in ways that lead to peaceful social arrangements.
• Living a meaningful life, placing the needs of others above one’s own so that each person may live up to his or her full potential.
• Living a sustainable life, preserving and enhancing the planet’s natural resources for current and future generations.

These challenges have guided the College’s turnaround, reinvigorating an institutional focus on undergraduate arts and sciences education. The economic and educational transformations, under Dr. Rowe’s leadership, have led Moody’s to upgrade the institution’s fiscal outlook from negative to positive, have moved Centenary into US News and World Report’s Tier One of National Liberal Arts Colleges, and were recognized in The Chronicle Higher Education’s July 3, 2011 article: “In Louisiana a Small College Gives Itself a Makeover.”

A native of Richardson, TX, President Rowe holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Southwestern University, a Master of Divinity, cum laude, from Emory University and a Certificate in Ecumenical Studies from the World Council of Churches and the University of Geneva. He earned the Ph.D. from Georgia State University where his research led to the dissertation entitled Cultural Leadership and Peace: An Educational Response to Religious Violence.

Dr. Rowe is married to Jodi (Hyde) Rowe of College Park, GA. They have two sons – Carter (10) and Philip (8).