To the American University Community:
I am honored to serve as Interim President of American University until our next leader is in place, when I will return to the Kogod School of Business. I look forward to working with Provost Wilkins, CFO Burleigh-Jones and the Cabinet, Deans, faculty, staff, students, the Board of Trustees, and all stakeholders. Thank you, President Alger, for your leadership, vision, and service to American University. I applaud your leadership on civic engagement, particularly in this chaotic time in our country.
The past four years at Kogod and American University have been the most fulfilling of my career. I have witnessed first-hand the distinctive impact our faculty and staff make for students and society. We are all fortunate to work in a community filled with diplomats and dancers, physicists and photographers, attorneys and advocates, educators and entrepreneurs. AU's greatest strengths permeate my own very non-linear journey: a liberal arts education bolstered by public policy and law degrees; internships and hands-on experience throughout college; and an international career spanning government, nonprofits, law, and business, culminating here, at AU, in what I consider the highest calling of all: education.
At a moment when higher education matters profoundly, American University boasts many unique attributes. We have a stirring mission, exceptional staff and faculty, excellent programs, unrivaled experiential learning opportunities, talented students, global reach, and more than 160,000 high-achieving alumni. Our campus shines as one of the most beautiful in the country in the most consequential city in the world.
Yet today these considerable strengths face four challenges all colleges and universities are grappling with: demographic decline in the college-age population; significant reductions in the number of international students; substantial cuts in federal funding; and growing skepticism about the value of a university degree.
American University's people, strategy, and resolve can and will overcome these pressures, but it will take teamwork, innovation, investment, alignment of resources, and change. That is why the Board of Trustees has asked me to be an accelerator, not a placeholder.
While in this role, my key priorities will include:
These goals share one unifying thread: preparing every student for a life and career filled with meaning and success. That mission, and the chance to advance it alongside you, energizes me to take on this role.
If you have seen me dancing with students in videos, cheering on our teams, or hugging graduates at Commencement, you already know: the energy, joy, and spirit of this community rank as its greatest asset. I intend to celebrate it, and you, every day.
I am excited to be on this journey with you.
Let's get to work and GO EAGLES!
Sincerely,
Dave Marchick
For more than 70 years, American University's Kogod School of Business has redefined what business education looks like — preparing future business leaders to thrive in careers on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley, at nonprofits and in government agencies, in startups and at Fortune 500 companies. With a strong focus on AI, Kogod ensures graduates harness technology’s potential to solve real-world business challenges, earning Kogod recognition from Poets & Quants as Best in Class for Artificial Intelligence. Kogod’s approach to learning fosters the entrepreneurial mindset and provides students with the skills, resources, and mentorship they need to succeed in any industry.