Patrick T. Harker became the 26th president of the University of Delaware in July 2007. Concurrent with his appointment as president, Dr. Harker is a professor of Business Administration in the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics and a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering in UD’s College of Engineering.
In May 2008, Dr. Harker unveiled a sweeping strategic plan, UD’s Path to Prominence, predicated on excellence in undergraduate, graduate and professional education, environmental leadership, global engagement and service to the community. He has established numerous research centers, as well as the Office of Economic Innovation and Partnerships, which stimulates invention and entrepreneurship and translates UD research into economy-driving technologies. To establish Delaware as a health sciences hub, UD has partnered with the region’s leading health care providers in the Delaware Health Sciences Alliance.
In February 2000, Dr. Harker was appointed dean of the Wharton School and Reliance Professor of Management and Private Enterprise. He was a senior fellow at the Wharton Financial Institutions Center and held a secondary appointment as a professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering at Penn. Previously, Dr. Harker was chair of Wharton’s Operations and Information Management Department.
Dr. Harker is a member of the board of directors of Pepco Holdings Inc. and Huntsman Corporation, and a founding member of the board of advisors of Decision Lens Inc. He previously served as a trustee of the Goldman Sachs Trust and Goldman Sachs Variable Insurance Trust.
Dr. Harker is a Class B director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, and a member of the boards of directors of the NCAA–Division I, Christiana Care Health Systems, First State Innovation, Catholic Relief Services and Easter Seals of Delaware. He is a member of the Regional Leadership Initiative Steering Committee at the Council on Competitiveness, a member of the CEO Council for Growth at the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and a trustee of Howard University.
Dr. Harker received his B.S.E. and M.S.E. in Civil Engineering in 1981, an M.A. in Economics in 1983 and a Ph.D. in Civil and Urban Engineering in 1983, all from the University of Pennsylvania.
When he was named UPS Transportation Professor of the Private Sector in 1991, Dr. Harker became the youngest faculty member in Wharton’s history awarded an endowed professorship. Dr. Harker has published or edited nine books and more than 100 professional articles. From 1996–99, he served as editor-in-chief of the premier journal Operations Research.
President George H.W. Bush named Dr. Harker a White House Fellow in 1991, and he served from 1991–92 as a special assistant to FBI Director William S. Sessions. Dr. Harker was named a Fellow of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) in October 2012, and a Charter Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors in December 2012.
Dr. Harker is married to the former Emily Grace Saaty and is the father of three children.