Michigan Tech names Koubek its 10th president

Michigan Technological University has a new president, officials said Friday.

Richard Koubek will begin his tenure July 1 as the university's 10th president, they said.

He is currently executive vice president and provost of Louisiana State University.

Koubek succeeds Glenn Mroz, who is stepping down from the post after 14 years to rejoin the university’s faculty. Mroz announced in April 2017 he was stepping down.

"Rick Koubek is a man of unquestioned integrity, character and leadership,” Terry Woychowski, chairman of Michigan Tech's Board of Trustees, said in a statement. “He has a profound and passionate vision of the role Michigan Tech will play in our nation's prosperity, and the betterment of the world, as he leads this historic University in developing and delivering — on a global scale — the solutions to some of society's most vexing challenges. I believe that Dr. Koubek was born for this time, this place and this position.”

Koubek said he's honored to serve as the school's next president.

"Michigan Tech is a technological university in its finest sense, where it is a leader in technology for sure, but also in the implications of technology on our environment, on our society, on our humanity," he said in a statement. "I am excited to be part of the Michigan Tech team that is going to define a new frontier where technology, humanities and the social sciences converge around creating a sustainable, just and prosperous world, and educating the next generation of students who will carry that forward."

Koubek has a university career that spans three decades. Before joining Lousiana State in 2009, he served as head of Pennsylvania State University’s Harold and Inge Marcus Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering.

Before that, he was the chair of Wright State University's Department of Biomedical, Industrial and Human Factors Engineering and associate dean for research and graduate studies in its College of Engineering and Computer Science. Wright State is located in suburban Dayton, Ohio.

Koubek earned a bachelor’s degree in biblical literature with a minor in chemistry from Oral Roberts University as well as a bachelor's degree in psychology from Northeastern Illinois University. He has a master’s degree and Ph.D. in industrial engineering from Purdue University.

Located in Houghton in the Upper Peninsula, Michigan Tech has more than 7,000 students from 60 countries.

cramirez@detroitnews.com