Ali A. Houshmand grew up poor — very poor — in Iran, and even as a doctoral student in the United States with a wife and two children, he said his family was on food stamps.
But Houshmand eventually became a professor, then an administrator, and rose to the top at Rowan University, where he celebrated his 10th anniversary as president this month.
On his watch, enrollment and the number of employees have climbed dramatically, making Rowan the fourth-fastest growing university in the country in each of the last three years, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
