Background
Dr. Frederick W. Obear is Treasurer and Senior Associate of Penson Associates, Inc. and is Chancellor Emeritus of The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC). He served as Chancellor of UTC for sixteen years. Dr. Obear also served in senior level positions at Oakland University as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, Vice Provost, Assistant Provost, and Dean of Freshmen in addition to holding faculty rank as Professor of Chemistry. From 1997 until 2007, he served as University Professor and Chancellor Emeritus; and in 2005-2006, he resumed full-time responsibilities as UTC’s Interim Chancellor during the search for a new chancellor.
In 1997-1998, Dr. Obear served as Acting Vice President for Academic and International Programs for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) while on sabbatical leave from UTC. In 1994-1995, he chaired the AASCU Board of Directors and, from 1998 to 2003 served as the coordinator and an instructor in that organization’s New Presidents’ Academy.
Dr. Obear is still actively involved with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) and with the NCAA. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of Marygrove College in Detroit and chair of the Board’s Academic Affairs Committee. He was named an ACE Fellow (1967-1968), was president of the Council of Fellows (1986), and received the program’s 25th Anniversary Service Award. He has also been a mentor in the Fellows Program and served on several ACE commissions and committees, including the Commission on Minorities in Higher Education, the Labor/Higher Education Forum, and the Commission on Leadership Development. From 1999-2002 he was a Leadership Team Facilitator for the ACE Fellows.
Dr. Obear has been a consultant for numerous universities. His special interests and extensive experience lie in the areas of leadership development, academic planning, program evaluation, team building and assessment, board/president relationships, fund raising, public/private partnerships, collective bargaining, accreditation, and athletic certification.
Dr. Obear received a B.S. degree with high honors from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and a Ph.D. from the University of New Hampshire as well as an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from his undergraduate alma mater.