Richard L. Van Horn (Ph.D. 1976)

Richard L. Van Horn, highly regarded in the information systems field, served in numerous influential academic roles, including as provost of Carnegie Mellon University, as the seventh president of the University of Houston, and as the twelfth president of the University of Oklahoma.

Born in Chicago, Van Horn was raised in Fort Wayne, IN. He earned his bachelor’s degree in industrial administration from Yale and an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School.

In 1976, he earned a Ph.D. in systems science from the Tepper School of Business. Van Horn then spent 16 years on the faculty of Carnegie Mellon, acting as associate dean of the Tepper School, the VP of business affairs, the VP of management, and from 1981-1983, as provost.

In the provost role, he worked to make computing accessible across the university, helping Herbert Simon and Alan Newell in convincing then-president Richard Cyert to implement a campus network of personal computers. Van Horn and Cyert worked with IBM to partner on CMU’s Andrew Computing Network, the first such venture on a university campus.

In 1983, Van Horn left to become the University of Houston president. In 1989, he became the president of the University of Oklahoma, stepping down in 1994. He additionally had spent ten years at global policy think tank, the Rand Corporation.

Van Horn has authored numerous articles and papers, as well as co-authored four books. Among his honors, he received CMU’s Alumni Achievement (Merit) Award from the Alumni Association in 1993 and an honorary doctoral degree in business from Reitsumeikau University, Kyoto.

In loyal support of the Tepper School, Van Horn, his wife, Betty Pfefferbaum Van Horn, George Lynn Cross Research Professor Emeritus and former chair of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the OU College of Medicine, and his sister-in-law Rose Pfefferbaum, have committed to a generous estate bequest.