CGU welcomes Interim President Joseph C. Hough, Jr.

Joseph C. Hough, Jr. has been appointed by the CGU Board of Trustees as the university's interim president. Hough has agreed to lead the institution for the next 18 months while a formal search for a new president is conducted. He is succeeding former President Robert Klitgaard, who stepped down on February 20.

Most recently, Hough served as president of Union Theological Seminary in New York City, from 1999 to 2008.

"Dr. Hough has a proven track record," said Deborah Anders-Altman, chair of the CGU Board of Trustees. "He brings considerable experience at CGU and Claremont that will serve the university well during this transitional period. With a distinguished record of leadership in challenging circumstances, the board is confident Dr. Hough will provide the blend of optimism and pragmatism that we need to guide our decision making."

Hough will assume all the duties of the office of the president in his role as interim president and will report directly to the board of trustees.

While at Union Theological Seminary, Hough raised nearly $30 million in capital funds for the Seminary as part of a $39 million comprehensive campaign completed in 2004. At the same time, he guided Union through a strategic plan that made the seminary fiscally viable, invigorated its academic programs, and strengthened historic ties with neighboring institutions.

Prior to assuming the post at Union, Hough served as dean and professor of ethics of the Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Nashville, Tennessee, for nine years. He was also the first director of the Cal Turner Program in Moral Leadership, a program for the law, divinity, medical, and business schools of Vanderbilt. Before that, he served on the faculty of Claremont Graduate School and was dean of the School of Theology at Claremont from 1974 to 1987.

Hough has earned numerous honors over the years, including a doctor of divinity from Wake Forest University and the Centennial Medal for Distinguished Service from Claremont in 1986. He also received the Joshua Award from the Jewish Federation Council in 1986 for outstanding contributions to human relations. In 2007, Hough was the recipient of the Alumni Award for Distinction in Theological Education from Yale Divinity School, and in 2008 he was named the 2008 recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the Association of Theological Schools of the United States and Canada. This award, given every two years, recognizes Hough's leadership of the institutions he has served and to the wider work of theological education.

A native of North Carolina, Hough did his undergraduate studies at Wake Forest and earned a BD from Yale Divinity School and, after three years in local church ministry, returned to Yale to earn a PhD in ethics in 1965.