University of Redlands Trustees Board Elects Ralph W. Kuncl as New President

Ralph W. Kuncl has been elected the 11th president of University of Redlands, the school announced Saturday.

"I am honored and humbled to have been selected to serve as the next president of the University of Redlands," Kuncl said in a statement released Saturday afternoon. "The University of Redlands is clearly a great team and it's the chance of a lifetime to be selected to lead the University into an energetic future."

The school's Board of Trustees met Saturday, received "the unanimous recommendation from the University’s presidential search committee," and elected Kuncl, the statement said.

Kuncl, currently provost and executive vice president at the University of Rochester, N.Y., assumes the presidency in mid-August.

Kuncl paid tribute to his predecessor, James R. Appleton, who is retiring after more than 20 years as leader of the University of Redlands.

"Dr. Jim Appleton leaves a superb legacy, guiding the University through many years of excellence and paving the way for future success," Kuncl said.

In addition to his leadership role at Rochester, Kuncl is professor of brain and cognitive sciences and neurology.

"Ralph is a high-energy person and a very effective, principled leader, and along with a remarkable background and list of achievements, we found him to be a man who is motivated by service to others, and particularly with a mission of helping to build and improve a liberal arts and sciences college like Redlands," Carole Beswick, university trustee and chair of the presidential search committee, said in the announcement Saturday.

Kuncl grew up in the Eagle Rock area of Los Angeles, and received his AB degree at Occidental College, according to the University of Redlands. He earned his Ph.D. and M.D. degrees from the University of Chicago and completed postdoctoral fellowships at Johns Hopkins University, then served 20 years as Professor of Neurology and Pathology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

He is married to Nancy Kuncl, a former businesswoman and now a hospice nurse, according to the University of Redlands.

The University of Redlands, founded in 1907, is an independent non-profit liberal arts and sciences university about 65 miles east of Los Angeles. The school has a student body of about 4,700.