Rice sociologist named 8th president of Gordon College
Lindsay to lead Massachusetts liberal arts college starting July 1

FROM RICE NEWS STAFF REPORTS

Rice Sociology Professor D. Michael Lindsay has been named president of Gordon College in Boston. A leading expert on religion and public life, Lindsay will take over the helm of the liberal arts college July 1. Lindsay is also being named a professor of sociology at Gordon.

	D. MICHAEL LINDSAY

”Michael Lindsay has contributed remarkable scholarship to Rice over the last five years,” Rice President David Leebron said. ”We congratulate Gordon College on its bold choice for a new president. Although we will miss Michael, I have no doubt that he will be a superb president.”

Lindsay, 39, is an assistant professor of sociology and a scholar at Rice’s James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy. He directs the Program for the Study of Leadership, which is housed in Rice’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research. Under his direction, the program launched a successful series of ”leadership salons” in which national leaders interact with Rice undergraduates in conversations about a timely topic. Lindsay is currently working on a PLATINUM study, the largest interview-based research to date of senior organizational leaders.

Lindsay is the author of two dozen publications, including scholarly articles in the top journals in three different fields. He is the author of the award-winning book ”Faith in the Halls of Power” (Oxford, 2007), and his work has been supported by multiple scholarly organizations, including the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Academy of Education and the National Science Foundation. In 2006 he was honored in a worldwide competition as the most promising sociologist under 35.

Lindsay joined the Rice faculty in 2006 after completing his Ph.D. at Princeton University and working with the George H. Gallup International Institute. A graduate of Baylor University, Lindsay also holds graduate degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary and Wycliffe Hall, Oxford University.

”It has been my great pleasure to work with so many talented colleagues and students at Rice over the last five years,” he said. ”I am especially pleased to have played a role in strengthening Rice’s commitment to the study and development of great leaders and to helping raise Rice’s national profile.

”I leave knowing that the university is poised to achieve its ambitious goals with the launch of the Department of Sociology’s graduate program this fall and the growing number of leadership opportunities available to Rice students. This was a tough decision, and Rice will always have a very special place in my heart.”

Located on Boston’s North Shore, Gordon College is one of the top Christian colleges in the country and the only multidenominational Christian college in New England. Lindsay replaces R. Judson Carlberg, who is retiring after serving as president since 1992. Lindsay will be Gordon’s eighth president.