Background
Stephen J. Reno is Chancellor Emeritus of the University System of New Hampshire. He served as Chancellor of USNH from 2000 to 2009. Over a forty-year career in higher education, he has served as president of Southern Oregon University, and held teaching and senior administrative posts at the University of Southern Maine and the University of Leicester (United Kingdom). He earned both the doctorate and master’s degrees in religious studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from St. John’s College, California. He is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Winchester (UK) and currently an ad hoc Fellow at the Harvard University Center for the Study of World Religions. His board and community service includes: Executive Director, Leadership New Hampshire; Chair, Board of Trustees of New Hampshire Public Radio; Chair, Board of Commissioners of the New Hampshire Postsecondary Education Commission; Director, Board of Directors of the New Hampshire Business Industry Association; Member, Lumina Foundation Research Advisory Board; Commissioner, Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities; Treasurer, State Higher Education Executive Officers; and Member, Board of Governors of New Hampshire Public Television. He serves currently as Chair of StayWorkPlay, Inc. In addition to scholarship in his academic field of religious studies, Dr. Reno‘s interests include institutional evaluation and accreditation, and he serves regularly as chair of accreditation teams to colleges and universities throughout the Northwest. In 2009, he was honored by the Business Industry Association with its “Lifetime Achievement Award.” He and his wife, Kit, live in Manchester, New Hampshire and their son, Matt, and daughter, Katy, are pursuing their careers afield.
Dr. Reno’s areas of consulting are: integration of accreditation self-study and institutional strategic planning and multi-campus public systems of higher education, including board development, CEO development and evaluation, and system dynamics.