Frank Newman (educator)

Frank J. Newman (February 24, 1927 – May 29, 2004) was a US education reformer and administrator who produced the Newman Reports, two ground-breaking reports on higher education in the United States that were published in 1971 and 1974. He served as the eighth President of the University of Rhode Island (1974–1983).

After a period as a fellow for the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, he co-founded Campus Compact in 1985. Newman was president for 14 years from 1985 to 1999 of the Education Commission of the States. He then founded the Futures Project at Brown University and taught there and at Teachers College, Columbia University. Following his death aged 77, education awards and fellowships were named in his honour.

Frank J. Newman was born on February 24, 1927, in Orinda, California, USA, and grew up in Mamaroneck, New York. He was one of three children of Frank and Dorothy Newman. His undergraduate (BA) degree at Brown University was in Naval Science and Economics and he graduated in 1946. This was followed by a degree in electrical engineering, awarded from Brown in 1949. After a period as an economics student at Oxford University in the UK, he returned to the USA and began work with the Honeywell Regulator Company that dealt in thermostat technology. During this period, he studied for and obtained a Master of Science in Business Administration from Columbia University.