Dean L. Hubbard was the university president of Northwest Missouri State University

Northwest Missouri State University

Northwest Missouri State University is a state university in Maryville, Missouri. Founded in 1905 as a teachers college, it offers both undergraduate and graduate programs. The campus, based on the design for Forest Park at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, is the official Missouri State Arboretum....

 from 1984 until 2009—the longest of any president in the school history.

During Hubbard's tenure the school avoided an announced closing and created the first electronic campus in the United States. It also experienced success in sport, with Northwest appearing in six national title games and playing some games at Arrowhead Stadium

Arrowhead Stadium

Arrowhead Stadium is a stadium located in Kansas City, Missouri and home to the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs....

 in Kansas City.
Before retiring in 2009 a program was started to replace students' printed textbooks with the electronic books or ebooks

E-book

An electronic book is a book-length publication in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, and produced on, published through, and readable on computers or other electronic devices. Sometimes the equivalent of a conventional printed book, e-books can also be born digital...

.

Before Northwest Missouri

Hubbard received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Andrews University

Andrews University

Andrews University is a Seventh-day Adventist university in Berrien Springs, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1874 as Battle Creek College in Battle Creek, Michigan, it was the first higher education facility started by Seventh-day Adventists, and is the flagship university of the Seventh-day...

 in Berrien Springs, Michigan

Berrien Springs, Michigan

Berrien Springs is a village in Berrien County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,862 at the 2000 census. The village is located within Oronoko Charter Township. Berrien Springs is best known for its Seventh-day Adventist community and Andrews University...

. While living in Korea from 1966 to 1971 he received a degree in Korean languages from Yonsei University

Yonsei University

Yonsei University is a Christian private research university, located in Seoul, South Korea. Established in 1885, it is one of the oldest universities in South Korea, the top private comprehensive universities in South Korea, and is widely regarded as one of the top three comprehensive...

 in Seoul, Korea. He then received a Ph.D. from Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

.

In 1972 took a job as a consultant at Union College in Nebraska

Union College (Nebraska)

Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska is a four-year coeducational college owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Midwest. It opened in 1891.T.R.M...

. He rose to become chief academic officer and then the school's president in 1980.

Northwest Missouri

In 1984 he moved to Northwest where he launched his plan for a computer in every room to make the claim to be the first electronic public university campus in the United States by the time it was rolled out in 1987.

In 1988 Hubbard resolved a crisis when the Missouri Department of Education under John Ashcroft

John Ashcroft

John David Ashcroft is a United States politician who served as the 79th United States Attorney General, from 2001 until 2005, appointed by President George W. Bush. Ashcroft previously served as the 50th Governor of Missouri and a U.S...

 proposed closing Northwest and designating Missouri Western State University

Missouri Western State University

Missouri Western State University is a public, co-educational university located in Saint Joseph, Missouri. The school enrolls 6,010 undergraduate students and 124 graduate students.-History:...

 40 miles south in St. Joseph, Missouri being the only state university in northwest Missouri.

Hubbard seeking to differentiate the colleges launched a strategy emphasizing a culture of quality. Missouri won Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award

The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recognizes U.S. organizations in the business, health care, education, and nonprofit sectors for performance excellence. The Baldrige Award is the only formal recognition of the performance excellence of both public and private U.S. organizations given by...

 Missouri Quality Awards in 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2008—the most of any organization in Missouri history.

Football powerhouse

The most visible differentiation was Hubbard's hiring of Mel Tjeerdsma

Mel Tjeerdsma

Mel Tjeerdsma is a retired American football coach. He served as the head coach at Austin College in Sherman, Texas from 1984 to 1993 and at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville, Missouri from 1994 until his retirement after the 2010 season. In his 27 years as a head coach, Tjeerdsma...

 in 1994 as head football coach for the Northwest Missouri Bearcats

Northwest Missouri Bearcats

The Northwest Missouri State Bearcats are the athletic teams for Northwest Missouri State University, located in Maryville, Missouri. The Bearcats play in the NCAA Division II. Northwest is a founding member of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1912 and has remained in the...

. Tjerdsma went 0-11 in his first season. In 1996 his team made the NCAA Division II playoff and won back to back championships in 1998 and 1999. It has appeared in the championship games in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. The success has resulted in several of its games being broadcast live from the Northwest campus.

In 2000–2003 he oversaw the $5 million overhaul of Bearcat Stadium

Bearcat Stadium

Bearcat Stadium is the football stadium of the Northwest Missouri State University Bearcats in Maryville, Missouri and is the oldest continuous site for any NCAA Division II school....

 (renamed from Rickenbrode Stadium).

Attempt to rename the Administration Building

In 2009 students at the school actively sought to rename the school's landmark Administration Building the Dean L. Hubbard Administration Building. When the University Regents refused saying the building should not be named for anybody, the students sought unsuccessfully to oust the regents. Later the Student Senate in April 2009 voted 23-3 in a vote of no confidence in the Board and specifically asked for the removal of Bill Loch, President of the Regents.

After Northwest

In 2010 he was named interim president of St. Luke's College of Health Sciences

St. Luke's College of Health Sciences

Saint Luke's College of Health Sciences is a nursing school associated with Saint Luke's Health System in Kansas City, Missouri that has graduated 3,500 nurses since its founding in 1903 in its Bachelor of Science in nursing program.-History:...

 in Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

. He was formally named to the full position in March 2011.