Stephen M. Jordan, Ph.D.
President, Metropolitan State College of Denver
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| President Stephen M. Jordan, Ph.D. |
Stephen M. Jordan has been president of Metropolitan State College of Denver since July 2005.
In his first four years at the helm, President Jordan has led Metro State on a rapid trajectory toward becoming the preeminent public urban baccalaureate college in the nation. Under his leadership, Metro State has sought—and recently received—permission from the Colorado Legislature to offer master’s degree programs, undertaken a campus master-planning process, and obtained approval for a new Hotel and Hotel Learning Center for the College’s growing Hospitality, Tourism and Events Department and a Metro State Success Building to house all student services in one convenient location.
Jordan has overseen plans to improve graduation rates among students of color by offering bachelor's degrees at community college campuses in their neighborhoods and is working on programs to increase retention of minority students. He has established a First Year Success Program, a learning community with support services that eventually will be offered to all incoming freshman. In addition, he has established a goal for the College of achieving the status of Hispanic Serving Institution within the next decade.
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| Stephen and Ruth Jordan |
Jordan serves on the boards of the Downtown Denver Partnership and the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce Leadership Foundation.
Jordan began his 29-year career in higher-education administration at the University of Colorado, as the assistant secretary to the Board of Regents and an attendant instructor in the Graduate School of Public Affairs. From there, he took increasingly prominent positions as an assistant vice chancellor, then vice chancellor at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, before becoming the deputy executive director for finance and planning for the Arizona Board of Regents and an adjunct professor in the Center for Educational Leadership at Arizona State University. In 1994, Jordan was named executive director of the Kansas Board of Regents and in 1998 he became president of Eastern Washington University, a position he held for seven years.
Jordan was named one of the nation's most innovative and entrepreneurial higher education leaders in the book, "The Entrepreneurial College President," by James L. Fisher and James V. Koch (2004: Praeger Publishers). The authors describe Jordan and 16 others as leaders who "appreciate, but are not anchored by, the past and who readily question the status quo, generate innovative ideas, and find ways to prevent organizational structure from discouraging change."
Jordan grew up in Colorado. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Northern Colorado and a master’s degree in public affairs and a doctorate from the University of Colorado-Denver.
He and his wife Ruth live in downtown Denver. They have two sons, a daughter and six grandchildren.