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Dr. Reynold Verret is the sixth president and second lay leader of Xavier University of Louisiana. Of the 107 historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and 262 Catholic colleges and universities in the United States, Xavier is the only Catholic HBCU in the nation.

Prior to acceding to the presidency of Xavier, Dr. Verret served as provost at Savannah State University and at Wilkes University. As chief academic officer, he led the university initiatives to build enrollment, enhance the quality and diversity of academic programs, develop the faculty, promote interdisciplinary efforts including those between the humanities and sciences, and create cooperative relationships with neighboring institutions and with other partners at the K-12 and higher education levels.

He has served also as Dean of Arts and Sciences at University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. As a faculty member at Tulane and Clark Atlanta University, Dr. Verret took great satisfaction in the education of students at the undergraduate and graduate levels. For many years, he led the Department of Chemistry as its chair at Clark Atlanta University.

As a biochemist and immunologist, Dr. Verret studied the functions of immune cells, especially the mechanisms of resistance to the lytic properties of cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Other areas of interest included fundamental properties of biological membranes and development and identifications of biosensors and biomarkers. At University of the Sciences, he directed a Knowledge Network on Social Exclusion for the former Commission on Social Determinants of Health of the World Health Organization.

Throughout his career, he has dedicated his efforts to increasing the number of US students, especially from underrepresented groups, pursuing degrees in STEM disciplines and continuing to advanced study, and to mitigating the shortage of qualified STEM teachers.
He has served numerous advisory bodies and boards, including those of the National Institutes of Health, the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, and the Georgia Coastal Indicators Coalition. He has been honored with awards and fellowships for teaching and scholarship.

Dr. Verret received his undergraduate degree cum laude in biochemistry from Columbia University and his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the laboratory of the late Har Gobind Khorana. To these degrees have been added postdoctoral experiences as fellow at the Howard Hughes Institute for Immunology at Yale and the Center for Cancer Research at MIT.

 

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