Richard Dunsworth

Richard Dunsworth, J.D., became the 25th president of University of the Ozarks in Clarksville, Ark., on June 1, 2013. Under Dunsworth’s leadership, enrollment at the private-four-year Presbyterian-affiliated University has increased more than 35% percent from 585 in 2013 to 785 in 2022.  The growth is being fueled by holding tuition for five years and resulted in the university being ranked by U.S. News & World Report as No. 1 in the South in the “Great Schools, Great Prices,” category for two consecutive years.  The University recently completed its Climb Higher: A Campaign for Students by raising more than $73 million to enhance student scholarships as well as support for the sciences and competition athletic facilities.

Dunsworth serves as the Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Higher Learning Commission, the largest accreditor of institutions of higher education.  He serves on the NCAA DIII President’s Council.  He is on the Board of Directors for the Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities, having served as the treasurer, Vice-Chair and Chair of the board.  Rich and his wife, Holly, actively support Johnson County Community Foundation, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library and several institutions of higher education.

A native of Colorado, Dunsworth earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, becoming the first person in his family to obtain a college degree. He went on to earn a Master of Science degree in education in 1994 from Eastern Illinois University in Charleston and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2002. He and Holly have three children, Nicolas, Matthew and Emma.