Richard M. Freeland

Richard Middleton Freeland (born May 13, 1941) was president of Northeastern University from 1996 to 2006^[1] and served as the Commissioner of Higher Education for Massachusetts from 2008 until 2015.^[2]

Freeland grew up in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, and was a 1959 graduate of Mountain Lakes High School; he was inducted into the school's hall of fame in 2014.^[3] He was granted a bachelor's degree in American Studies from Amherst College and a doctorate in American Civilization from the University of Pennsylvania.^[4]

Freeland is married to Elsa Nunez, and has two children. Freeland's maternal grandmother Georgie Boynton Child was the author of The Efficient Kitchen: Definite Directions for the Planning, Arranging, and Equipping of the Modern Labor Saving Kitchen; A Practical Book for the Homemaker (1914)

During Freeland's tenure, Northeastern University went through major institutional changes, including becoming a more selective institution, moving to semesters from quarters, and the opening of over $400 million worth of new facilities.^[5]

• Clark University – Worcester (2007–2009)
  • Mosakowski Professor of Higher Education ^[6]
• University of Massachusetts Boston (1970–1992)
  • Assistant to the president
  • Assistant to the chancellor
  • Director of the Office of Educational Planning
  • Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences
• City University of New York (1992–1996)
  • Vice chancellor for academic affairs
• Northeastern University
  • President (1996–2006)
• Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Higher Education
  • Commissioner of Higher Education (2008–2015)

• Vice-chair, board of trustees for the Boston Plan for Excellence
• Director, American Council on Education
• Director, Boston Museum Project
• Director, Boston Private Industry Council
• Director, Globe Newspaper Corporation
• Director, Jobs for Massachusetts
• Governing board member, John Adams Innovation Institute
• Member of the board of trustees, WGBH
• President, board of governors in the World Association of Cooperative Education

• The Truman Doctrine and the Origins of McCarthyism (1972)
• Academia's Golden Age: Universities in Massachusetts, 1945-1970 (1992)
• Richard M. Freeland (2019). Transforming the Urban University: Northeastern, 1996-2006. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0812251210.

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