Mark Zupan became Alfred University’s 14th president in its 183-year history on July 1, 2016. During his tenure, he and his team have: created a five-year leadership giving society, the Saxon Circle, which now has nearly 500 members; established a Strategic Investment Fund with gifts from Board members and other key donors that allows the University to implement some of its strategic goals without adversely affecting the operating budget; and realized an average of over $21 million per year in new gifts and commitments, and are on track to top that this year.

A graduate of Harvard University with a degree in economics, President Zupan earned his Ph.D. degree, also in economics, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  He began his teaching career at Harvard University and then the University of Southern California (USC). He moved into administration as associate dean of masters programs at USC and then dean and professor of economics at the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona.

Prior to coming to Alfred, he spent 10 years as dean of the Simon Business School at the University of Rochester, where he also served as director of the Bradley Policy Center and the Olin Professor of Economics and Public Policy. At Simon (with 13,000 alumni), Zupan spearheaded the first comprehensive campaign in the school’s history—one that ended up raising over $85 million over seven years and more than doubled the annual level of gifts and commitments to the school and added 10 new endowed professorships to a pre-existing base of 9. At the Eller College of Management (with 40,000) alumni, Zupan and his advancement team led a campaign that raised over $100 million in seven years, considerably surpassing the $13 million raised by the college’s previous campaign.