Richard L. Ludwick, M.A., J.D., D.Ed., was inaugurated as the 18th president of the University of Findlay on Friday, October 16, 2026.
The ceremony began with a faculty procession from Croy Physical Education Center, past the College First Church of God, and along Main Street through the Griffith Memorial Arch. The Presentation of Colors came on horseback courtesy of Jake Bowman ’05, ’14, UF farm business manager, and his daughter, Eliza Bowman.
The investiture took place on the front steps of Old Main, with guests including Board of Trustee members, community leaders and residents, and UF alumni, students, faculty, and staff.
Pastor Lance Finley, UF Board of Trustees member and executive director of the Churches of God General Conference, gave the invocation and the benediction.
Chris Ostrander, chairman of the UF Board of Trustees, and President Emerita Katherine Fell, Ph.D., performed the investiture ceremony, presenting President Ludwick with the C.I. Brown Presidential Badge of Office, a gold medallion of the University seal attached to a chain set with alternating orange and black jade stones.
“Since our founding in 1882, generations of students, faculty, staff, alumni, trustees, friends, and community partners have shaped this University and carried its mission forward. Today we honor that rich history while looking with great anticipation toward the future,” Ostrander said. “An inauguration reminds us that while leadership changes, the enduring purpose of the University remains.”
Ludwick began his address recalling a dark winter day being pulled on a sled in the snow behind a tractor on his family farm in Indiana when he was called inside to take a telephone call from an admissions counselor. He would become the first member of his family to go to college.
He described that call as “an invitation to the light – light to a path that even to this day, I continue to pursue, a life of education. That light still shines today.”
He credited the “intrepid Oilers” in 1882 who founded Findlay College with a philosophy of “Let’s pursue something greater than ourselves, something that will last.”
He noted that the institution’s original building, Old Main, was constructed “at a great cost to people not of significant means but of significant heart.”
Ludwick pointed out that every generation in UF history has endured hardships, from financial difficulties to wars to a pandemic. “And through it all Findlay stands – fearless, ever facing forward, and finding its future.”
As a new chapter of UF history begins, he said, “We do not leave the faith that brought us here. We do not leave the values that won the past. We reshape them to the future. We carry them forward and they will propel us to success. We are engaged in a great gathering of ideas, energies, and momentum.”
Strategies for moving forward will evolve out of “a genuine dialogue of those committed heart, mind, and soul” to UF who will create “a rhythm of life and hope that we all can take pride in.”
The strategic plan to be formulated will recognize the importance of Findlay as a place, but also the impact on places around the world “where the spirit of Findlay goes” through UF graduates.
The new president also emphasized a “promise to keep that of the past. To lift it up, to enliven it, to vivify that which has come before.”
As UF creates a new model in higher education, Ludwick said, “we are lighting that light, the path to the future for those we will call.”
“Ours is the future. Ours is the task to seize it. Come follow me into that future,” he concluded.
The ceremony featured the University Choir singing the “Star Spangled Banner” and the Findlay Alma Mater hymn. The Oiler Marching Band, directed by Adam Miller, D.B.A., visiting assistant professor of music, provided accompaniment.
Greetings were offered by Seth Dahlhausen, UF senior and president of the Student Government Association; Elizabeth Buchanan, Ph.D., chair of Faculty Senate; Pastor Philip Scott ’88, UF Board of Trustees member and regional director of the Churches of God General Conference; Findlay Mayor Christina Muryn ’14; and State Representative Ty Mathews.
An inaugural reception followed the ceremony at the Watterson Center.
Ludwick was named as president by the UF Board of Trustees on April 30 and became president on July 1.
He served as president of the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas, from 2017 to 2024, and then was named president emeritus in 2025. His successful leadership there resulted in seven years of record-setting enrollment growth, significantly increasing the overall revenue, and expanding academic offerings.
From 2010 to 2017, he was the president of Independent Colleges of Indiana. Previously, he served as a provost at St. Gregory’s University in Oklahoma, and he has held senior leadership positions at Albany Law School in New York, University of Florida College of Law in Gainesville, and University of Oregon School of Law in Eugene.
Additionally, Ludwick was the president and partner of a regional law firm in Muncie, Indiana, and is a licensed member of the Indiana Bar. He also has served as a Higher Learning Commission peer reviewer, and as a member of numerous local, regional, and state governing boards.
Ludwick earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Evansville, a Master of Arts in higher education from Columbia University, a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Indiana University, and a Doctor of Education from the University of Oregon.
He and his wife, Melynda, are both Indiana natives – growing up about 90 miles from Findlay – and came to the University in a spirit of faith and service.
