Richard Middleton Freeland (born May 13, 1941 in Orange, New Jersey

Orange, New Jersey

The City of Orange is a city and township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 30,134...

) was President of Northeastern University from 1996 to 2006. He currently serves as the Commissioner of Higher Education for Massachusetts .

Freeland holds a bachelor's degree in American Studies from Amherst College

Amherst College

Amherst College is a private liberal arts college located in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Amherst is an exclusively undergraduate four-year institution and enrolled 1,744 students in the fall of 2009...

 and a doctorate in American Civilization from the University of Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

.

Freeland is married to Elsa Nunez, and has two children.

During Freeland's tenure, Northeastern University went through major institutional changes, including becoming a more selective institution, moving to semesters from quarters, and the opening of over $400 million worth of new facilities.

Educational Positions

• Clark University
  Clark University
  Clark University is a private research university and liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts.Founded in 1887, it is the oldest educational institution founded as an all-graduate university. Clark now also educates undergraduates...
  
   - Worcester (2007- 2009)
  • Mosakowski Professor of Higher Education
• University of Massachusetts
  University of Massachusetts
  This article relates to the statewide university system. For the flagship campus often referred to as "UMass", see University of Massachusetts Amherst...
  
   - Boston (1970 - 1992)
  • Assistant to the President
  • Assistant to the Chancellor
  • Director of the Office of Educational Planning
  • Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences
• City University of New York
  City University of New York
  The City University of New York is the public university system of New York City, with its administrative offices in Yorkville in Manhattan. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E...
  
   (1992 - 1996)
  • Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
• Northeastern University
  • President (1996 - 2006)
• Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Higher Education
  • Commissioner of Higher Education (2008 - present)

Other Positions

• Vice-Chair, Board of Trustees for the Boston Plan for Excellence
• Director, American Council on Education
• Director, Boston Museum Project
• Director, Boston Private Industry Council
• Director, Globe Newspaper Corporation
• Director, Jobs for Massachusetts
• Governing Board Member, John Adams Innovation Institute
• Member of the Board of Trustees, WGBH
• President, Board of Governors in the World Association of Cooperative Education

Books

• The Truman Doctrine
  Truman Doctrine
  The Truman Doctrine was a policy set forth by U.S. President Harry S Truman in a speech on March 12, 1947 stating that the U.S. would support Greece and Turkey with economic and military aid to prevent their falling into the Soviet sphere...
  
   and the Origins of McCarthyism
  McCarthyism
  McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
  
  (1972)
• Academia's Golden Age (1992)