Biography 

Farouk Dey, PhD 
President

As the fourth President of Palo Alto University, Dr. Farouk Dey leads a private, nonprofit, mission-driven institution in the heart of Silicon Valley focused on behavioral science education and dedicated to advancing human understanding in an ever-changing world. Under his leadership, the university is strengthening its role at the intersection of behavioral science, education, and innovation, preparing practitioners and scholars to address emerging and complex human challenges affecting individuals, organizations, and communities worldwide. His presidency reflects a forward-looking commitment to academic excellence, social impact, and an unwavering focus on human well-being amid transformative shifts in technology and society.

Dr. Dey is a visionary higher education leader with more than two decades of experience transforming universities through innovation in experiential learning, life design, workforce development, and community engagement. His work is grounded in the belief that education must do more than impart knowledge; it must expand access to opportunity, foster purpose, and equip learners to thrive amid rapid social, economic, and technological change. At Palo Alto University, this perspective informs a strategic focus on innovative education, groundbreaking research, impactful practice, and the preparation of graduates in behavioral science fields who are both technically skilled and deeply attuned to the human dimensions of their work.

Before joining Palo Alto University, Dr. Dey held executive leadership roles at Johns Hopkins University, Stanford University, and Carnegie Mellon University. Most recently, he served as the founding Vice Provost for Integrative Learning and Life Design at Johns Hopkins University, where he held an inaugural senior leadership role and partnered across the institution to reimagine how universities support students in connecting learning to life aspirations and meaningful careers. During his tenure, he led the creation of the Imagine Center for Integrative Learning and Life Design, scaled alumni mentoring and employer engagement, secured new philanthropic resources for experiential immersive learning, and helped achieve record levels of student engagement, satisfaction, and employment outcomes. His leadership positioned life design as a central pillar of the student and employee experience at the university.

A trained counselor and educator, Dr. Dey brings a human-centered lens to leadership. Throughout his career, he has focused on enabling individuals and institutions to realize their potential within complex and often constrained environments. He has held leadership and advisory roles across higher education and professional organizations, working with universities, boards, and startups to integrate technology into high-impact learning practices, track student and alumni outcomes, and expand access to mentoring, experiential education, and economic mobility, particularly for first-generation and limited-income learners. Dr. Dey is widely recognized for his thought leadership in life design, career education, experiential learning, educational technology, and the future of work. Named one of LinkedIn’s Top Ten Voices in Education, he is a sought-after speaker and writer known for connecting big-picture trends with practical strategies for institutional transformation. 

Dr. Dey’s leadership is shaped by extensive global and cross-cultural experience. Fluent in Arabic and French, Dr. Dey has worked with education and industry leaders around the world, advising institutions, teaching, and delivering keynote addresses across multiple continents. He led a multi-year USAID initiative to build career education and talent development centers at universities throughout the Philippines, taught leadership courses for the Ministry of Education in Singapore, and hosted international delegations from around the globe. These experiences inform his global perspective and his commitment to inclusive, culturally responsive approaches to education and leadership.

Dr. Dey holds a PhD and an EdS in Educational Leadership from the University of Florida, an MBA and an MEd in Counseling Psychology from Washington State University, and a BBA in Finance from the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. Throughout his career, a unifying theme has remained constant: expanding access to education, economic opportunity, and well-being to support healthy and fulfilling lives. As President of Palo Alto University, he continues this work by guiding the institution toward a future in which technological advancement and human understanding reinforce one another, and where education serves as a powerful engine for individual transformation and collective good.