Dr. Sidney A. Ribeau

President

Since becoming Bowling Green State University's ninth President in 1995, Dr. Sidney A. Ribeau has led the University's adoption of a values-centered mission-something rare at a public university-that challenges students to develop critical thinking skills and to become engaged members of society.

Those efforts have created a distinctive learning community at BGSU and caught the attention of others in higher education. In 2003 the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators presented Dr. Ribeau with its President's Award for his "courage and leadership in guiding the Bowling Green State University campus community to develop a community focused on student learning and designed to educate the whole student by taking students' personal and intellectual growth into consideration."

President Ribeau's vision for Bowling Green has inspired a number of innovative programs, including nationally recognized residential learning communities, first-year seminars on critical thinking, and co-curricular activities that take learning outside the classroom. Another program, the President's Leadership Academy, enables students from diverse ethnic and economic backgrounds to enhance their leadership skills.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ribeau has prioritized the availability of the latest technology for research, instruction and communications. He also has encouraged collaboration with other institutions to increase operational and cost efficiencies, and has championed collaborative research and instructional programs, such as the nationally recognized Center for Photochemical Sciences. The center received a $2 million Wright Capital Project grant in 2003 from the state to create a laboratory that will work collaboratively with business, industry and nonprofit organizations to bring innovations in the photochemical sciences to the marketplace.

A member of the Bowling Green and Toledo Chambers of Commerce, Dr. Ribeau serves on the boards of United Way, the Greater Toledo Urban League, the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, the Andersons Inc. in Maumee, Convergys Corp., and Worthington Industries. In addition, he serves on Ohio's Higher Education Funding Commission, the board of the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association-College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF), the advisory board to the Third Frontier Commission and the board of the Regional Growth Partnership.

Raised in Detroit, President Ribeau received his bachelor's degree from Wayne State University in 1971. He earned master's and doctoral degrees in interpersonal communication from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in 1973 and 1979, respectively.

He began his teaching career in 1976 as a professor of communication studies at California State University, Los Angeles. Eight years later, after being honored as an outstanding teacher and student adviser, he became chair of the university's Pan African Studies Department. He held that position until 1987, when he was named dean of undergraduate studies at California State University, San Bernardino. Three years later, he became dean of the College of Liberal Arts at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo campus. In 1992 he was named Vice President for academic affairs at Cal Poly Pomona, a position he held until coming to Bowling Green.