Chris Howard, OU vice president for leadership and strategic initiatives, is bidding farewell to Oklahoma and hello to Virginia, where he will become the 24th president of Hampden-Sydney College.

Howard was chosen out of 100 candidates and “brings leadership experience in the military, business, and higher education to his new role” at the all-male university, the college’s Web site states.

Howard credits his success to his experience working with the students at OU.

“I’m a better father and a better man because of the students whom I interact with,” said Howard, who will leave Oklahoma in July to take his new position.

Howard said OU students challenge him with intellectual passion and a real desire to change the world.

“These OU students have shown me great intellectual curiosity,” he said. “They’ve shown me a great deal of intelligence and a real desire to make the world a better place.”

Since 2005, Howard has served as a Honors College professor, director of the Honors College Leadership Center and deputy executive director of the International Programs Center.

Howard earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the Air Force Academy, a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School and a doctorate degree from Oxford University, where he studied on a Rhodes Scholarship.

He was raised in Plano, Texas, where he said he learned his greatest life lessons from his parents.

His mother was an early role model in leadership for him, he said. Howard said she not only walked the walk, but talked the talk.

“She has this amazing work ethic, not that my father doesn’t, but there is something about my mom, who was raising two sons while my dad was in Vietnam,” he said. “So, what I always saw, growing up, was someone who sacrificed for her family, served God and sacrificed for her community.”

Howard also has admired Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela since childhood.

Since coming to OU, Howard said OU President David L. Boren has been his greatest mentor and he will miss Boren’s leadership.

“He is one of the most capable leaders in civil society, broadly-defined, that I’ve ever interacted with,” Howard said.

Colleague Daniel Pullin, vice president for technology and development, said through e-mail that Howard is a remarkable leader and a role model to his students.

“Dr. Howard’s ability to stoke our students’ ambitions is impressive,” Pullin said. “He challenges them to grow professionally and personally throughout their lives.”

Robert Con Davis-Undiano, dean of the Honors College, said no project or task is ever too daunting or too involved for Howard.

“Chris revels in the hard work required to advance good projects and never shrinks from difficulty,” Davis said. “This is the core of being a happy warrior.”

Howard said his goals are more focused on his students than the positions he earns.

“Within the rubric of leadership, my goal is to accelerate the leadership odyssey of all my students,” he said.