President Keith Faulkner

. Keith Faulkner was appointed the fourth President of Charleston Southern University on July 26, 2023.

Faulkner earned his Juris Doctor degree and a Master of Business Administration from Campbell University’s Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law. He also holds an LLM in litigation management from Baylor University School of Law. In 1998, he graduated with honors from Charleston Southern University, with a BS in business administration-finance emphasis—where he won the Outstanding Business Administration Student Award that same year. He served in the U.S. Navy where he worked as a nuclear power plant operator and technician. For four of those years, his responsibilities were aboard a fast-attack nuclear powered submarine—the USS Billfish. Already built to be a CSU Buccaneer living on the high seas, his longest stay under water was almost two months.

Before being selected president of CSU, Faulkner had 20 years of higher education experience; he served as president and dean of Appalachian School of Law in Virginia. Prior to this, he served as the dean of Liberty University School of Law and the Lundy-Fetterman School of Business at Campbell University. He also served as interim dean at Campbell University’s Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law. Over his career, he and his teams have launched online programs, developed innovative partnerships with industry, enjoyed success in fundraising, and many other notable accomplishments. 

A native of Montgomery County, North Carolina, Faulkner and his high school sweetheart, Patty, have been married for 31 years. They have three children: Hannah, 22, Erin, 18, and Ryan, 12