SHREVEPORT, LA -- Dr. Kenneth L. Schwab, president of Centenary College, has been elected to the Board of Directors of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU). He assumed his new responsibilities Feb. 9 at the association's 20th annual meeting in Washington, D.C
Prior to his appointment at Centenary in 1991, Dr. Schwab served the University of South Carolina in Columbia in a variety of positions between 1986 and 1991, including executive vice president for administration (1988-91), executive assistant to the president for institutional planning (1986-88), and associate professor of education (1986-91).
Before joining the South Carolina faculty, Dr. Schwab spent 16 years at Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C. Between 1980 and 1986 Schwab was the assistant to the president for institutional planning and community relations and dean of students. Between 1974 and 1980, Dr. Schwab was dean of students after serving as assistant dean of students and director of residential operations between 1970 and 1974. Throughout his tenure at Guilford, Dr. Schwab taught courses in educational psychology and interdisciplinary studies. Dr. Schwab began his professional career as a special education teacher with the Defiance City Schools in Defiance, Ohio.
Dr. Schwab earned a bachelor's degree in economics at Purdue University in Lafayette, Ind., and a master's degree in guidance and counseling at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. He later received a doctorate in higher education administration from Indiana University in Bloomington.
In addition, Dr. Schwab is an active member of many professional and service organizations. He is the chair of the Louisiana Independent College Fund, and past president of the Conference of Louisiana Colleges and Universities. He is a member of the Associated Colleges of the South, Rotary International, and the Louisiana State Fair. He also serves on the boards of the National Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities of The United Methodist Church; the American Heart Association of Shreveport; and the Commercial National Bank.
NAICU member presidents from Region VI (Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas) elected Dr. Schwab to represent them on the association's 44-member board for a three-year term. NAICU is the national organization representing independent colleges and universities on public policy issues with the legislative, executive, and regulatory branches of the federal government.
Founded in 1976, the association has more than 850 members, including liberal arts colleges, major urban research universities, historically black institutions, women's colleges, faith-related colleges, and schools of law, medicine, engineering, business, and other professions.
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