President Richard J. Cook

Richard J. Cook, Allegheny's 20th president, took office in 1996, and Allegheny has been on the move ever since. Two major strategic planning initiatives—New Century Connections and Tradition and Transformation: Allegheny 2010—have dramatically enhanced the campus and the College's educational programs during his tenure.

President Cook is one of the nation's foremost educators on the subject of civic engagement. Under his leadership Allegheny has developed the Allegheny College Center for Experiential Learning and become a founding member of Project Pericles. These programs, together with the distinctive Center for Political Participation, offer Allegheny students a rich variety of opportunities to combine their classroom education with experience in government, business, and other leadership activities.

In April 2007 Dr. Cook announced that the 2007-2008 academic year will be his last year of active service as the College's president. "This decision comes only after much soul-searching and deliberation," he wrote in a letter to the college community. "I continue to marvel at our good fortune in having become part of Allegheny, and the thought of setting aside a daily role in the life of the campus is a difficult one. However, Terry and I have reached a point in our lives where we feel the need to be geographically closer to our families in Minnesota and Michigan." A copy of the news release with President Cook's announcement can be found here.

Parallel to this emphasis on democratic values has been a commitment to a sustainable economic and environmental future. Dr. Cook became one of the first signatories of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, a national challenge to colleges and universities to develop a comprehensive action plan to reduce their global-warming emissions.

Working with Allegheny students and other members of the community on Make a Difference Day projects has become an annual tradition for President Cook and his wife, Terry Lahti, pictured at upper right.

The College will spend the coming year searching for a successor who can continue Dr. Cook's work—and in celebrating the achievements of the twelve years of his leadership.

President Cook is an honors graduate of the University of Michigan, with M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in organic chemistry from Princeton University. His technical work has been widely published in professional journals and commissioned reports, and he has been appointed to numerous boards in the government and private sectors. You can see his thoughts on current educational issues by exploring the links on this page.

He also exhibits his own "unusual combinations" at the college that is known for nurturing unusual combinations of interests, skills, and talents in our students. He is a chemist who leads one of the finest liberal arts colleges in the country, a man who's made surprise guest appearances with a faculty rock band and ridden a Harley in the Homecoming parade, a president who takes a break from his leadership roles in higher education by maintaining the eighty wooded acres in northeastern Michigan that have been in his family since the early 1900s.

President Cook was featured in the Fall/Winter 2002 issue of Allegheny magazine. The article, entitled "Reflecting the Light," can be read here.