NEWS EVENT

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University – Worldwide Hires New Director of Academics for Patuxent River Campus

Lexington Park, MD, February 5, 2009 – Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University -Worldwide has announced the appointment of Gene W. Townsend as the director of academics for the Patuxent River campus.

Townsend retired in 1996 from the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) where he held the title of business and financial manager/comptroller at the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD). Additionally, Townsend also served during his time at the NAWCAD as the director of public works from 1984 to 1986 and again in 1990.

Townsend holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and dual master’s degrees in Business Administration in Contract Acquisitions and Contract Management from Florida Institute of Technology. He is also a graduate of the Naval War College in Newport, RI, where he secured a diploma.

In addition to his director of academics responsibilities, which include the recruitment and retention of faculty, scheduling courses, and tutoring students, Townsend is also an associate professor of Business Administration and teaches: Financial Accounting, Managerial Accounting, Corporate Finance, Personal Financial Planning, and Townsend is a Certified Financial Planner.

The Patuxent River campus, located in Lexington Park, MD, serves the greater Lexington Park area and serves students from the aviation and aerospace industry, in addition to the general business community. The campus has a yearly student enrollment in excess of 1,000. The university offers a variety of undergraduate and graduate degree programs, which can be located by visiting www.embryriddle.edu/worldwide. For more information on Embry-Riddle’s Patuxent River campus, call (301) 863-8776 or email the campus staff at patuxent.river.center@erau.edu.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, offers more than 30 degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Engineering, educating more than 34,000 students annually in undergraduate and graduate programs. Doctoral programs in aviation and in engineering physics are pending approval by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) for the University to offer programs at the doctoral level. Embry-Riddle educates students at residential campuses in Prescott, Ariz., and Daytona Beach, Fla., through the Worldwide Campus at more than 130 campus centers in the United States, Europe, Canada, and the Middle East, and through online learning. For more information, visit www.embryriddle.edu.