Gerson Moreno-Riaño

Bio

Dr. Gerson Moreno-Riaño serves as executive vice president for Academic Affairs. As executive vice president, Dr. Moreno-Riaño is the chief academic officer of the University, providing leadership to all academic units and enrollment management to ensure that all academic programs are faithful to Regent’s Christian mission, that they provide an education of the highest quality to all students and that the university’s enrollments expand both in excellence and size.
Under the visionary leadership of the university’s Chancellor and CEO, Dr. M.G. “Pat” Robertson, Dr. Moreno-Riaño successfully led a rigorous reaffirmation of Regent University’s 10-year institutional accreditation through 2029 by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), the highest level of accreditation possible. He oversees the academic leadership team responsible for seven additional prestigious accreditations and four industry designations, including being named a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education (CAE-CDE) for the B.S. in Cybersecurity program by the National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security.
Dr. Moreno-Riaño also led a multi-year Strategic Growth Initiative under the entrepreneurial leadership of Chancellor and CEO, Dr. Pat Robertson. This initiative included an extensive expansion and transformation of high-quality academic programs, student support services, enrollment and academic operations and creation of a Military Resource Center, College of Healthcare Sciences and School of Nursing.
New areas of study grew from 75 to more than 130, featuring new STEM programs and a forward-looking cybersecurity program with an industry-facing, live-fire cyber range. Student population nearly doubled from 5,900 in 2014 to over 10,000 students in 2019, delivering a historic increase in revenue.
Dr. Moreno-Riaño also serves as a professor of government at the university. His areas of expertise include the history of political philosophy with a special emphasis in early modern political ideas, democratic theory, and political theology and ethics. He is a member of the American Political Science Association and the foremost society for the study of medieval philosophy and intellectual history, the Société Internationale pour l'Étude de la Philosophie Médiévale.
Dr. Moreno-Riaño’s distinguished scholarly career has included serving as a fellow in the Lehrman American Studies Center, an academic fellow in the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a fellow in the Center for the Study of Democratic Citizenship at the University of Cincinnati, and a visiting professor in the Department of Medieval Studies, Central European University (Budapest).
Dr. Moreno-Riaño received the 2011 John Witherspoon Lecturer Award from the Family Research Council, gave the inaugural Iwata Distinguished Lectures in Politics, Economics and Christian Ethics at Biola University (2008) and also was honored with a 2nd place Templeton Enterprise Award from the Templeton Foundation and the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, based on his research in economics and natural law ethics. He has presented both invited and accepted scholarly papers at Peking University, University of Cambridge, University of Oslo, University of Bergen, University of East Anglia, University of Helsinki and numerous scholarly societies including the American Political Science Association, the Renaissance Society of America, the International Medieval Congress, the International Political Science Association and the American Psychological Association.
Dr. Moreno-Riaño has published six books and numerous scholarly articles and book chapters. His book The Prospect for Internet Democracy (2009) (co-authored with Michael Margolis) was nominated as the Book of the Year in 2010 by the Information Technology and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association. Dr. Moreno-Riaño also has been featured in numerous television, radio, and print interviews or publications through such outlets as The Washington Post, CBN News, Fox News, Inside Higher Education, Virginia Business, Voice of America Radio, American Family Radio, and others.
Dr. Moreno-Riaño holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Political Science from the University of Cincinnati and a B.A. in Political Science and Pre-Seminary Biblical Studies from Cedarville University, graduating cum laude.
Dr. Moreno-Riaño’s life and accomplishments are solely due to God’s grace and mercy upon His life and would be impossible without the love and support of his wife of 29 years, Ellen, and their six beautiful children. SOLI DEO GLORIA.

Credentials

B.A., Pre-Seminary Biblical Studies, Political Science (cum laude) - Cedarville University M.A., Political Science, University of Cincinnati Ph.D., Political Science, University of Cincinnati

Affiliations

The American Political Science Association
The Renaissance Society of America
The Association for Political Theory