The New President of Washington State University

Elson S. Floyd was named the tenth president of Washington State University. He will assume the post this summer upon the retirement of current president V. Lane Rawlins. Floyd is currently the president of the four-campus University of Missouri system. He previously served as executive vice president of Eastern Washington University.

Floyd will be the first African American to serve as president of the four-campus Washington State University. The main campus at Pullman has close to 20,000 undergraduate students. Less than 3 percent of the student body is black. Floyd is a native of Henderson, N.C. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and speech, a master’s degree in adult education, and a doctorate in higher and adult education, all from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Floyd will earn an annual salary of $600,000.