John Gardner is universally regarded throughout the national and international higher education community as the initiator and leader of an educational reform movement, spanning more than three decades, to improve the retention and graduation rates of college and university students. His work has focused especially on two critical student transitions during the undergraduate years: the first-year experience and the senior-year experience. Gardner is the founder of two higher education research and professional development educational centers, the University of South National Resource Center on The First-Year Experience and Students in Transition and the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education. He is also Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Library and Information Science and Senior Fellow at the University of South Carolina. He is a widely published author and scholar whose work has been recognized with numerous awards including eleven honorary doctoral degrees. Gardner brings forty years experience working in higher education to his presidency.
