R. Bowen Loftin, the outgoing president of Texas A&M University, will become MU’s 22nd chancellor Feb. 1, 2014, the university announced Thursday.
“I can tell you with great certainty on what we set out to achieve several months ago. We have indeed found excellence in our new leader, Bowen Loftin,” UM System President Tim Wolfe said in his announcement.
Wolfe said Loftin, 64, fit the search committee’s criteria perfectly, stressing his abilities to direct a land-grant university and warm personality.
“Who I am, where I came from matches exactly why this university came to exist,” Loftin said. “It gives me great comfort that I match you and you match me.”
Wearing a gold bow tie dotted with black dots in the shape of the state of Missouri, Loftin repeatedly pointed to the importance of faculty and students and cited MU’s assets as a major motivator behind his decision to take the position.
“No university can be everything,” Loftin said. “You’ve got to identify where you want to be special … and the good news is you’ve got a lot to be proud of here at Mizzou.”
Loftin announced in July he would leave the A&M presidency in January 2014. He has held the post since February 2010, after serving eight months prior as interim president.
At the time, he said he would remain a tenured faculty member at Texas A&M’s Dwight Look College of Engineering in the department of industrial and systems engineering.
“There aren’t many schools I would have thought of associating with after Texas A&M, and Missouri fits all the pieces,” Loftin said.
The College Station, Texas, school has grown to record numbers under Loftin, exceeding 50,000 students. Loftin also led the Aggies from the Big 12 Conference to the Southeastern Conference at the same time former Missouri Chancellor Brady Deaton made the move as well.
Under Loftin, A&M research expenditures have reached almost $700 million and the school brought in $740 million in gifts during the 2013 fiscal year.
At the time of his resignation announcement, A&M officials said Loftin’s top project was the school’s merger with the Health Science Center and acquisition of Texas Wesleyan Law School.
Before his move to College Station, Loftin was the vice president and CEO of Texas A&M University at Galveston. He has also held leadership positions at Old Dominion University in Virginia and the University of Houston.
“I announced my retirement, not as a member of the A&M team, but as president,” Loftin said Thursday, adding that he was sincerely interested in remaining an active part of Texas A&M’s faculty until he was approached by MU.
As his date of resignation drew nearer, he said he would have rather continued to impact thousands of students as an administrator, rather than hundreds as a professor or researcher.
Loftin graduated from Texas A&M in 1970 with a degree in physics and holds a master’s and doctoral degree in physics from Rice University, earned in 1973 and 1975, respectively.
He first came to Columbia later in the decade to conduct research on MU’s nuclear reactor.
“I really appreciate the hospitality I was afforded that many years ago,” he said.
Loftin was selected out of three finalists for the position, Wolfe said. The national search began just after [Deaton announced his retirement](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2013/6/12/chancellor-brady-deaton-retire/) in June. Loftin said he was approached by the search committee almost two months ago and said the hiring process progressed “on a good clip.”
He will receive an annual salary of $450,000, according to a university news release. Deaton made upwards of $337,000 in his final year as MU chancellor.
Loftin said he hopes one day to return to a faculty role but expects to spend at least the next five years as MU chancellor.
“I wouldn’t have even dreamed of coming here without a long-term commitment,” he said.
Loftin is known as one of the most popular presidents at A&M.
He manages [his own Twitter account](https://twitter.com/aggieprez) and often eats lunch at the student union. The Aggies’ women’s basketball team gave out bow ties to the first 1,500 students who arrived at “R. Bowen Loftin Appreciation Night” against San Diego State on Tuesday. He was roasted to celebrate his retirement in October by A&M’s 12th Man Kickoff Team as a fundraiser.
