Milton Carl Moreland (born February 5, 1966) is an American academic administrator and archaeologist who is the 21st and current president of

Centre College Centre College, formally Centre College of Kentucky, is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky, United States. Chartered by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1819, the col ...

in Danville, Kentucky. A graduate of the

University of Memphis The University of Memphis (Memphis) is a public university, public research university in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, the university has an enrollment of more than 20,000 students. The university maintains the Herff Col ...

, Moreland taught for eight years at

Huntingdon College Huntingdon College is a private Methodist college in Montgomery, Alabama. It was founded in 1854 as a women's college. History Huntingdon College was chartered on February 2, 1854, as " Tuskegee Female College" by the Alabama State Legislature a ...

and was a member of the faculty and administration for thirteen years at

Rhodes College Rhodes College is a private liberal arts college in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Historically affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA), it is a member of the Associated Colleges of the South and is accredited by the Southern Associa ...

, serving for some time as the dean of faculty, vice president for academic affairs, and provost. In February 2020, he was announced as president of Centre College; he assumed office on July 1, 2020, succeeding John A. Roush, and was formally inaugurated in October 2021.

Early life and education

Milton Carl Moreland was born on February 5, 1966, in

Boise, Idaho Boise ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Idaho, most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Loca ...

. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from the

, where he graduated with honors. This was followed by a Master of Arts and PhD, both in religious studies, from

Claremont Graduate University The Claremont Graduate University (CGU) is a private, all-graduate research university in Claremont, California, United States. Founded in 1925, CGU is a member of the Claremont Colleges consortium which includes five undergraduate and two grad ...

Claremont, California Claremont () is a suburban city in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States, east of Los Angeles. It lies in the Pomona Valley at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. As of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census it had ...

. Moreland wrote his honors thesis on the

Nag Hammadi library The Nag Hammadi library (also known as the Chenoboskion Manuscripts and the Gnostic Gospels) is a collection of early Christian and Gnostic texts discovered near the Upper Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi in 1945. Thirteen leather-bound papyrus c ...

Career

Moreland began his teaching career in 1995. He taught at

as an assistant professor until 2003, when he joined the faculty of

in Memphis, Tennessee, as an assistant professor of religious studies. He was eventually promoted to associate professor and full professor. He also served as the director of the Rhodes Institute of Regional Studies and chaired the archaeology program in addition to teaching archaeology. In December 2015, Rhodes announced that Moreland had been selected from a national search to be the college's vice president for academic affairs and the dean of faculty; he had been serving as dean on an interim basis for the previous 18 months. Moreland additionally served as the provost at Rhodes. He was presented with Rhodes's Jameson M. Jones Award for Outstanding Faculty Service on August 17, 2012. He also served on the senior staff of Sepphoris Regional Archaeological Project, located in

Galilee Galilee (; ; ; ) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon consisting of two parts: the Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and the Lower Galilee (, ; , ). ''Galilee'' encompasses the area north of the Mount Carmel-Mount Gilboa ridge and ...

, for upwards of two decades. Moreland's scholarship focuses on the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

and

history of Christianity The history of Christianity began with the life of Jesus, an itinerant Jewish preacher and teacher, who was Crucifixion of Jesus, crucified in Jerusalem . His followers proclaimed that he was the Incarnation (Christianity), incarnation of Go ...

. Upon his departure from Rhodes, Dr. Katherine Clay Bassard was named his successor as provost and VP for academic affairs, effective July 1, 2020. On February 5, 2020, Moreland was announced as the 21st president of

, succeeding John A. Roush, following a unanimous vote of the presidential search committee. He assumed office on July 1, 2020, and much of the beginning of his term took place during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. He was officially inaugurated in a ceremony held at the

Norton Center for the Arts Centre College, formally Centre College of Kentucky, is a private liberal arts college in Danville, Kentucky, United States. Chartered by the Kentucky General Assembly in 1819, the college is a member of the Associated Colleges of the South and ...

on October 14, 2021. Among those that spoke at the ceremony were

Crit Luallen Eugenia Crittenden "Crit" Luallen (née Blackburn; born July 21, 1952) is an American politician who served as the 56th lieutenant governor of Kentucky from November 13, 2014, to December 8, 2015. Luallen previously served as Kentucky Auditor of ...

and

Jacqueline Coleman Jacqueline Layne Coleman (born June 9, 1982) is an American educator and politician serving as the 58th lieutenant governor of Kentucky since 2019. She has worked as a high school administrator, teacher, and basketball coach. Coleman is the foun ...

, the former and incumbent lieutenant governors of Kentucky and graduates of Centre in 1974 and 2004, respectively. The first incoming class of Moreland's administration totaled 359 new students, bringing Centre's total enrollment for the 2020–21 academic year to 1,333 students. The renovation of Franklin W. Olin Hall, which began in summer 2019, was completed in time and opened to students at the beginning of the 2021 spring term, including the installation of a

Foucault pendulum The Foucault pendulum or Foucault's pendulum is a simple device named after French physicist Léon Foucault, conceived as an experiment to demonstrate the Earth's rotation. If a long and heavy pendulum suspended from the high roof above a circu ...

in the building's north stairwell. Moreland and the college announced a $50 million project to build a new athletics center, including replacements for Boles Natatorium and

Farris Stadium Joe McDaniel Field at Farris Stadium was a stadium in Danville, Kentucky, located on the campus of the Centre College. It was the home of the Centre Colonels Centre Colonels football, field hockey, lacrosse, and track teams, in addition to vario ...

, in April 2021.

Andy Frye Stadium Joe McDaniel Field at Andy Frye Stadium is a stadium in Danville, Kentucky, located on the campus of the Centre College. It is the home of the Centre Colonels football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, k ...

, the school's new football facility, opened in 2022. In addition, the school added a business major in fall 2021.

Personal life

Moreland's wife, Dina (), is a former professional and national team

racquetball Racquetball is a racquet sport and a team sport played with a hollow rubber ball on an indoor or outdoor court. Joseph Sobek invented the modern sport of racquetball in 1950, adding a stringed racquet to paddleball in order to increase vel ...

player and pharmaceutical salesperson. She attended the University of Memphis, like Milton, and has been an elementary school teacher since 2003. The couple married in December 1986 and they have two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moreland, Milton C. Living people People from Boise, Idaho American academic administrators American archaeologists Claremont Graduate University alumni Huntingdon College faculty Presidents of Centre College Rhodes College faculty University of Memphis alumni 1966 births