Campbell University President J. Bradley Creed announced plans to retire next year, ending a 10-year run at the helm of the private university.
Creed is only the fifth president in Campbell’s 137-year history. Its board of trustees will start a national search for his successor.
Creed oversaw the most successful capital campaign in Campbell’s history, raising $105 million. That fundraising supported the development of the Oscar N. Harris Student Union, now recognized as the heart of student life at Campbell.
“After more than 30 years of leadership in higher education, I’m eager to take on other projects and to spend more time with my loving wife, children, and grandchildren,” said Creed in a release.
Before becoming Campbell’s president in 2015, he was dean at the George W. Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University in Texas. He also held the roles of provost and executive vice president at Samford University in Alabama.
“We are grateful that President Creed will remain as president over the next
year to keep Campbell moving forward and to ensure a smooth transition to his eventual successor,” said board chair Gene Lewis III.
Campbell, founded in 1887, is a private university based in Buies Creek, about one hour east of Raleigh. Its Wiggins School of Law is based in downtown Raleigh, and it maintains additional satellite campuses in Fort Liberty/Pope Air Force Base and at Camp Lejeune.
During the Fall 2023 semester, the university had approximately 5,100 students, including about 2,800 being undergraduates. Its athletic teams are known as the Fighting Camels.
It also runs the only osteopathic medical school in North Carolina.
Creed received a Bachelor of Arts in Religion from Baylor, graduating cum laude. He earned his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.