William F. Tate IV
William F. Tate IV is an American social scientist and higher education administrator currently serving as President of Rutgers University. He previously was the 28th president of Louisiana State University.
Career
Tate was born in 1964 or 1965 and grew up in Chicago. He received a Bachelor of Science in economics from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, in 1982, a Master of Arts in teaching mathematics from the University of Texas, Dallas, in 1987, a Doctor of Philosophy in mathematics education from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 1991, and a Master of Psychiatric Epidemiology from Washington University in 2011, as well as a postdoctoral fellowship in social policy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, from 1991 to 1992.He served as dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis for 18 years. In 2020, he became Provost and Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of South Carolina, where he was also USC Education Foundation Distinguished Professor. He also held the William L. and Betty F. Adams Chair at Texas Christian University and served on the faculty at University of Wisconsin–Madison.Initiatives
Throughout his presidencies at Louisiana State University and Rutgers University, Tate has introduced a range of academic, research, and administrative initiatives aimed at strengthening institutional prominence and supporting student success. His proposals have focused on expanding research capacity, improving affordability and access, and adapting universities to changing funding and enrollment landscapes.At the University of South Carolina, where Tate served as executive vice president for academic affairs and provost, he launched Carolina Online. It delivered a degree program and a way to earn professional credentials online. This established the Provost's Postdoctoral Fellowship program, which enhanced research productivity on campus.
At LSU, Tate launched the "Scholarship First" strategic framework, which emphasized education, research, outreach, and leadership across the university’s campuses. He announced a set of research focus areas called the "Pentagon Priorities," targeting agriculture, biomedical sciences, coastal issues, energy, and defense/cybersecurity. Under his leadership, LSU reported record growth in research expenditures, reaching $543 million in combined activity across campuses, and secured a $245 million philanthropic donation, the largest in the university’s history, to support health initiatives. He also convened a committee of faculty and staff to identify best practices in pedagogy and academic support, while instituting budget measures such as a hiring freeze, consolidation of administrative roles, withholding of departmental funds, and an expansion of LSU Online with the goal of enrolling 10,000 students by 2030.
At Rutgers, where he began serving as president in 2025, Tate pledged to expand the university’s national research profile, strengthen partnerships with industry, and prioritize affordability and student access. He also emphasized Rutgers’ role as New Jersey’s flagship public institution, noting the importance of sustaining research excellence while navigating challenges related to state funding and enrollment trends.