Office of the President

Ohio native Gregory Crawford and his wife Renate met while getting their Ph.Ds at Kent State University. The two accomplished physicists come to Miami after spending the last eight years at the University of Notre Dame.

After spending several days visiting with staff, faculty and students at Middletown, Hamilton, and Oxford, they are even more enthusiastic about Miami’s future. "Renate and I are honored to follow the tremendous progress made under David and Valerie Hodge’s leadership during the past decade, and we see so much opportunity, passion and enthusiasm in the Miami community," says Dr. Gregory P. Crawford. (Scroll for additional information on each of them.)

Dr. Crawford comes to us from the University of Notre Dame, where he has served as a Professor of Physics and Vice President and Associate Provost. He also served as a Professor of Physics and Engineering and Dean of Engineering at Brown University.

"Road to Discovery" Blog
Since 2010, Greg Crawford has dedicated his summers to biking across the country to raise awareness and funds for research to find treatments and a cure for Niemann-Pick Type C (NPC) disease.

Upon receiving her doctorate in physics, Mrs. Crawford became a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Biomolecular Engineering at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C.

Renate completed her postdoctoral training at Stanford University and started as a faculty member at the University of Massachusetts, where she later became Chair of the Department of Physics, and subsequently, Associate Dean of Engineering. She was the senior academic advisor in Academic Affairs at Saint Mary’s College and in August 2011, joined the University of Notre Dame as an adjunct Associate Professor of Physics.

"Having that breadth [of the liberal arts] was extraordinary for me. And I just know that there’s no way I could have taken on leadership roles as dean or vice president and now president without being socialized in the liberal arts. You develop virtues and courage, empathy, humility. To be a leader, you need all of those skills."

Read more about Dr. Crawford and his views on the liberal arts in this Business Courier Q&A feature. 

Is The Distinction Between STEM And The Humanities Obsolete?
Science 2.0, February 3, 2015

The Virtuous Cycle - Diversity and liberal arts create a synergy for success
LinkedIn, November 30, 2015