Neal King

Neal King, is an American psychologist, consultant and president of the International Association of University Presidents. He was the president of Antioch University Los Angeles^[1][2] and Sofia University in Palo Alto, California.

Early life and education

Neal King graduated from Fermin Lasuen High School in San Pedro, Los Angeles, California (where he was student body president). He earned a B.A. in English from St. Mary's College of Californiain 1968, where he was also class and student body president. In 1970, he briefly attended a music school, Ecole de Musique, in Nice, France.^[3] He earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. (1985) in Counseling Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley.^[1]

Career

In 1987, King became a faculty member of the masters program in Counseling at Sonoma State University, where he was a lecturer until 1992.

He served as Director of the Lao American Association in Pakse, Laos from 1969-1970 and as an English language teacher at Lycee Amirouche in Tizi Ouzou, Algeriafrom 1970-1971.

King served as a counselor at the American School in London from 1977-1980. After completing his graduate education at UC Berkeley, King was a professor of psychology and the founding director of the Doctor of Psychology program at John F. Kennedy University in Pleasant Hill, California.

King was the Orange County, California campus President of Argosy University's University of Sarasota in California, and Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design in Colorado.^[1] In 2004, he became the academic dean, and later interim president, at Antioch University New England.^[1] As president of Antioch University Los Angeles, he transformed a $1M deficit into a $7M surplus in five years. He also played a minor role in the initial stages of re-branding Antioch.^[4]

He was a founding Dean and CEO of Argosy University's University of Sarasota (California) - later Argosy Orange County, California- from 1999 until 2001. The University of Sarasota merged with Argosy in 1992. The University of Sarasota did not change its name to Argosy, Orange County until September 2001 when Education Management Corporation, a Goldman Sachs 43% stakeholder, acquired Argosy Education Group.

In 1997, King became the Founding Associate Dean of Argosy University's Phoenix, Arizona location, otherwise known as Arizona School of Professional Psychology. In 1999, King was the Founding Dean and CEO of Argosy, Orange County, California, formerly the University of Sarasota.

From 2001-2004, King served as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design in Colorado,^[1] where he led the successful drive for initial accreditation with the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD).^[5]

King has written about AIDS/HIV.^[6] He is the author of "Speaking Our Truth: Voices of Courage and Healing for Male Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse," published in 1995 by Harper Perennial.

Antioch University

Between 2004 and 2006 King served as academic dean and interim President for the New England campus. He served on the Antioch University Leadership Council (ULC) and various Task Forces during his time there. Most notably the Antioch University Bold Future Task Force combined from Antioch University itself, members from Antioch New England and Antioch LA.

• In 2004, he became the first Academic Dean, and later Interim President, at Antioch University New England.^[1] Later continuing his work at Antioch University Los Angeles from 2006-2011, as the first President of a separate campus apart from the Santa Barbara campus. There he oversaw a "transition from significant deficit to significant surplus in 5 years, built the first Board of Trustees for the campus and oversaw the development of a new MA in Sustainability."^[7]
• In January 2009, he also played an initial role in helping to re-brand Antioch University. According to GuideStar, as part of Antioch's Bold Future Initiative the Pierson-Lovelace Foundation contributed a 'generous and continuing investment' of initially over $2M in 2008 and than in 2009. When the rebrand was announced $6,851,000 more was spent on "general support" branding and public relations initiative and to increase fundraising capacity.^[4] King served on both the Antioch Leadership Council (ALC) and the Antioch University Bold Future Initiative Task Force with members from many different schools within Antioch. In particular the task force drew upon the help of individuals at Antioch University and King's university Antioch Los Angeles and his former university, Antioch New England:^[8]

Sofia University

From 2011-2014, Neal King served as President at Sofia University (California) (formerly known as The Institute of Transpersonal Psychology) in Palo Alto, California.^[9] During his two years and eight months at the university King claims, "he took steps in concert with the community to realize the strategic directions established by the board and endorsed by the community". These included changing the name to reflect it was a university and introducing an undergraduate study program with WASC oversight, as well as "professionalizing the staff", complete a re-branding process opposed by many of the community and travel to many parts of the world to build connections for the university. King' claims "travel was on behalf of and funded entirely by IAUP and cost the university nothing". Bob Frager, the school's founder, was quoted as saying that "there's been an atmosphere of secrecy from the top down", and that King and the board "refused to give us a budget for this year (2014)[…] or clear figures about what's going on".^[10] King resigned in 2013 after a 100% vote of 'no confidence' was presented to him by the faculty.^[11]

Affiliations

King has served as a team chair and member of the Eligibility Review Committee (ERC) for the senior commission of Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). It is unclear when King served on this committee or is still serving. The ERC itself, is tasked with conducting reviews on institutions applying for WASC accreditation.^[12]
King is President and a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the International Association of University Presidents (IAUP). He is also a member of a Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group for the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations, and a charter member of the Board of Directors of the World University Consortium, where he represents IAUP.
In 2010, King became a founding member of LGBTQ Presidents in Higher Education,^[13] which according to their webpage "advances effective leadership in the realm of post-secondary education, supports professional development of LGBTQ leaders in that sector, and provides education and advocacy regarding LGBTQ issues within the global academy and for the public at large."^[14] This association has not updated their webpage since December 2010.^[15]
King has also served on the Executive Board of California Campus Compact (CACC) from 2009 to 2014.^[16][17][18] He joined the CACC as president of Antioch University Los Angeles and later facilitated membership for The Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, now called Sofia University (California). He had previously served on the Board of Campus Compact New Hampshire, while interim president of Antioch University New England.

Personal life

King married Peter Morrison in August 2008, during the five-month window of legal same-sex marriages in California, preceding the passage of Prop 8.^[11][19][20]

References