Richard Koubek

Biography

Dr. Richard J. Koubek became Michigan Technological University’s 10th president in July 2018, bringing 30 years of higher education experience to the role. In 2015, he was named executive vice president and provost of Louisiana State University (LSU) after serving as dean of the LSU College of Engineering since 2009. Previously, Koubek served as head of Pennsylvania State University’s Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering; chair of the Department of Biomedical, Industrial and Human Factors Engineering at Wright State University; and associate dean of research and graduate studies in Wright State’s College of Engineering and Computer Science.

Koubek began his academic career as a faculty member in Wright State University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science. He later served six years as an assistant and associate professor in the School of Industrial Engineering at Purdue University and as a full professor at Wright State, Pennsylvania State University, and LSU. Koubek earned a bachelor’s degree in biblical literature, with a minor in chemistry, from Oral Roberts University, and in psychology from Northeastern Illinois University. He received his master’s degree and PhD in industrial engineering from Purdue University. Koubek and his wife Valerie have three grown children.