Professional Biography
After 19 years of service as President and CEO of the American Association of University Administrators (AAUA), Dan King retired and was named President and CEO Emeritus in 2023. In addition to his work with AAUA (which initially was part-time while he held other administrative posts), King served as a provost at three institutions — with the longest of these services at Rhode Island College. Prior to his vice presidencies, he served as a dean at three other institutions, the longest of which was at Buffalo State University. Most of his experience as a faculty member in educational leadership occurred at North Dakota State University. He has been on the faculty or has served as an administrator in a variety of higher educational institutional types — community college, private liberal arts college, comprehensive state college/university, independent graduate professional school, and land-grant/research university.
King completed his bachelor's degree with majors in music and religious studies at Madonna University, followed by an M.A. degree in educational research at the University of Detroit Mercy. He subsequently earned the Doctor of Education degree in K–12 education administration at Wayne State University; that was followed by a post-doctoral research residency/practicum at Wayne in the study of higher education administration. In 1999, King was awarded the prestigious distinction of ACE Fellow by the American Council on Education. He is the recipient of institution-wide teaching/service faculty awards from Loras College and Minnesota State University—Moorhead. In recognition of his extended consultation on public school finance reform with the Kentucky Education Department, he was commissioned in 1982 as an Honorary Kentucky Colonel by Governor John Y. Brown.
King has authored/coauthored a book chapter, four technical reports, and over 50 papers that have been published or presented in scholarly forums; he served as editor of the Journal of Higher Education Management from 2007 until 2023. He has been principal or co-principal investigator on nine different funded grants and research projects totaling over $6 million. He has chaired over 40 doctoral student dissertation committees (with one dissertation having been cited with a national award).