President Emeritus
Charles M. Chambers

Charles Chambers was named president emeritus of Lawrence Technological University on July 1, 2006. He had served as the first chancellor of Lawrence Tech from Feb. 1–July 1, 2006, and prior to that had served as the fifth president of Lawrence Tech since 1993.

The Chambers presidency was distinguished by the largest expansion of facilities, the highest level of fund raising success in the University’s 74-year history, and spearheading Lawrence Tech’s emergence as Michigan’s preeminent private research university.

Under his leadership, Lawrence Tech became Michigan’s first wireless laptop campus and added a $20 million Technology and Learning Center and a $12 million Student Housing Center. He spearheaded the construction of the $13.9 million A. Alfred Taubman Student Services Center and the $3.2 million Center for Innovative Materials Research. His other initiatives include improvements to the campus quadrangle. Millions more have been invested in upgrading all other facilities on Lawrence Tech’s 102-acre campus. He also has overseen an enormous increase in student scholarships, community outreach, and the growth and expansion of applied research and academic offerings, including the launch of doctoral programs and the establishment of learning centers and higher education partnerships throughout southeastern Michigan, Canada, Germany, Mexico, and throughout Asia.

For the 10 years prior to joining Lawrence Tech, Chambers was president of the American Foundation for Biological Sciences, a consortium of over 50 scientific laboratories, museums, and societies headquartered in Washington, D.C. He has served on the faculties of Harvard University, the University of Alabama, and George Washington University, where he was also a dean for graduate evening programs.

An expert in accreditation, he has been president of the American Association of University Administrators. He has also served as a consultant to the Congress and to numerous governmental agencies. As an aerospace engineer with NASA in the 1960s, he participated in the Apollo space program that landed men on the moon.

Chambers holds the PhD degree in physics from the University of Alabama and has a law degree, with honors, from George Washington University. In 1992 he was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  In 2006 he was named a fellow of the Engineering Society of Detroit, and received the honorary Doctor of Science degree from Lawrence Tech.  In 2007 he was recognized as a life member of the Economic Club of Detroit.

He was a founding director of Automation Alley, and currently serves as a director of the Detroit Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the WIRED (Workforce Investment for Regional Economic Development) advisory board of the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Detroit Renaissance Steering Committee, the Oakland County Workforce Development Board, and the Education Foundation of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, where he chairs the nominating committee.  He is also a member of the Oakland County Business Roundtable, and leads accrediting teams visiting university campuses for the North Central Association.

He currently holds the chair of Distinguished Professor of Science and Technology in the University's College of Arts and Sciences, and is on leave of absence working on economic and workforce development projects in Michigan and Washington, D.C.

A native of Virginia, he and is wife, Dr. Barbara Chambers, have four children and one grandson.

President Emeritus
Richard E. Marburger

Richard E. Marburger, a former General Motors researcher, has served over 42 years in Lawrence Tech teaching and administrative roles, including serving as president from 1977 to 1993.

A gifted and popular teacher, he continues to serve Lawrence Tech students on a near daily basis as a volunteer academic advisor and tutor.

Marburger was an early proponent of computers to aid the educational process, and during his presidency, the campus-wide distribution and adoption of computers for teaching, research, business, and communications occurred. Marburger insisted that all campus machines be able to “talk” with each other, seamless interaction rare at the time but an attribute he thought essential to assuring the cohesion of the Lawrence Tech learning community. Campus e-mail was inaugurated in 1982. The Wayne H. Buell Management Building, the Don Ridler Field House, and a major addition to the Engineering Building opened. Lawrence Tech’s first major capital campaign was launched and concluded over goal. He initiated the return of graduate programs to Lawrence Tech and led Lawrence Tech’s change of status from an institute of technology to university in 1989.

Marburger is chairman of the board of the AGBU Alex and Marie Manoogian School. He is a past president of the Engineering Society of Detroit, the Detroit Metropolitan Science Teachers Association, and Science and Engineering Fair of Metropolitan Detroit. He is also past chairman of the Southfield Planning Commission and the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Michigan.

Joining the adjunct faculty in 1965, he was named to the full-time faculty in 1969 and then led the College of Arts and Sciences before being named vice president for academic affairs (provost) of the University. He holds three degrees in physics from Wayne State University, including the Ph.D. Among numerous awards for scientific accomplishment and leadership, he was named a Distinguished Alumnus of Wayne, elected to the national honorary scientific society, Sigma Xi, and has received the Engineering Society of Detroit’s coveted Gold Award and Rackham Humanitarian Award. He received the Doctor of Engineering, honoris causa, from Lawrence Tech in 1993.

A state champion spelling bee winner in the 1940s and a proponent of strong communication skills for students, Marburger rescued and reinvigorated the Michigan Spelling Bee and administered it through the University for over a decade.

During 17 years with the General Motors Research Laboratories, he made many important contributions to technology including X-ray diffraction techniques.

Marburger and his wife, Mary, have two adult children, both of whom are Lawrence Tech graduates, and four grandchildren.