About Neal King
M.A. & Ph.D., UC Berkeley
BA, St. Mary’s College of California
Neal King has lived and worked in both Buddhist and Muslim cultures and has enjoyed a life-long fascination with comparative cosmologies– the study of how different people and cultures derive meaning and understand their relationship with forces larger than themselves.
Dr. King is a psychologist by training who completed his graduate study at UC Berkeley. Prior to joining the Sofia community, he served as President of Antioch University Los Angeles. With extensive experience as a psychologist in private practice in Northern California, Dr. King has served in a variety of faculty and administrative positions in non-profit, public and private, for-profit and state settings.
He was the Dean of Faculty and Interim President at Antioch University New England, the founding director of the Psy.D. Program at John F. Kennedy University, the founding campus president of what was then the University of Sarasota Orange County, California campus, and Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design in Colorado. He has previously been an English teacher and counselor in Northern California, London, Laos and Algeria.
Dr. King has served as a volunteer consultant/evaluator for three of the six regional accrediting bodies for higher education in the United States, including the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). He is currently a team chair and member of the Eligibility Review Committee (ERC) for WASC.
Throughout his career, Neal has championed a vision that emphasizes collaboration, transparency, academic quality, shared governance, and open communication with the campus community.
Dr. King currently serves as President of the International Association of University Presidents (IAUP), and was a member of IAUP’s delegation to the launch of the United Nations Academic Impact Initiative in NYC and to the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE 2010 & 2011) in Doha, Qatar. He was appointed as a commissioner on the IAUP / United Nations joint Commission on Disarmament Education, Conflict Resolution and Peace. Members consist of representatives from colleges and universities from around the globe.
Dr. King is also a founding member and steering committee member of LGBTQ Presidents in Higher Education, and serves on the Executive Board of California Campus Compact.
