Dr. J. Bradley Creed, the fifth president in Campbell University’s 138-year history, officially begins his retirement Tuesday after 10 years of leadership in Buies Creek and over three decades of dedicated service in higher education.
Creed will be succeeded on July 1 by Campbell’s sixth president, Dr. William M. Downs, former president of Gardner-Webb University.
During his decade at Campbell’s helm, Creed played an instrumental role in the private university’s growth as an institution. He successfully navigated the disruptions of COVID-19, guiding the university through the challenges of remote learning and the transition back to on-campus instruction. Dr. Creed oversaw the most successful capital campaign in Campbell’s history, raising $105 million. That fundraising supported the development of the Oscar N. Harris Student Union, now recognized as the heart of student life at Campbell.
Under Creed’s leadership, the university experienced a rise in undergraduate admissions in the wake of the national trend of a pandemic-induced decline. While Creed enhanced Campbell’s undergraduate experience, he also nurtured the success of the university’s graduate and professional programs.
Creed said he hopes his decade of service to Campbell University is remembered more for his focus on “character education” than anything else. Toward the end of his tenure, he led an effort to instill the ideas of “character,” “initiative” and “calling” into the undergraduate curriculum. He said the effort was a result of a lifetime of reflecting on what an education should be about.
“We’re a university, and like any other college or university, we’re a knowledge enterprise. But we’re also in the business of changing people’s lives,” Creed said. “Campbell is a place where we prepare you for a career, but it’s also a place where you can become a certain kind of person. Your college years might be your most formative years, so the foundation that’s built here will help set the pattern for the rest of your life. And that’s where character matters. Some of the most notorious and public failure in human history — whether it’s business or politics — are often due to failure of character.”
Creed announced his retirement on April 17, 2024. In his announcement, he called serving as Campbell’s president “an honor and the capstone of my career in higher education.”
“I am thankful for the many wonderful people who assisted and supported me, and especially for the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of our students,” he said. “After more than 30 years of leadership in higher education, I’m eager to take on other projects and to spend more time with my loving wife, children and grandchildren.”
Prior to coming to Campbell, Creed’s legacy as an accomplished leader of mission-driven institutions and as a scholar and historian of religion was well established. Prior to his presidency, he served as dean at the George W. Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University. He also held the roles of provost and executive vice president at Samford University.
On March 27 of this year, Creed was honored by Campbell students, faculty and staff during a Founders Week event held in the student union he built. At the event, Creed shared lighter stories about his first week as president and the whirlwind 13-city speaking tour he took part in to get to know the Campbell community.
“I never set out to be a university president,” Creed said. “During graduate school, I thought at some point I’d like to be a faculty member. I think I got into what I’m doing because I love to learn. Students graduate from this university every year, and I just keep coming back. Well, I’m finally going to graduate this spring.”
On May 10, Creed spoke at his final spring commencement ceremony and joked about the “countless” graduations he’d attended as president, provost and a professor over the past 30-plus years. He likened the day to his own graduation, of sorts, and talked about his own new beginnings as a retired university president.
“One of the exciting things I’m looking forward to most is spending the next phase of my journey with my beautiful wife of almost 45 years, Kathy,” he said. “My greatest accomplishment was not being the president of Campbell University, as great an honor as that is. My greatest accomplishment is that I married well.”
His final public ceremony as president was held on June 24, when Campbell Athletics honored Creed and his wife with the unveiling of a display in the concourse of the Pope Convocation Center celebrating their legacy and the impact they had on the athletics programs. During Creed’s tenure at Campbell, Fighting Camel teams won 33 conference championships and 21 regular season titles and made 30 NCAA team appearances from the fall of 2016 through the spring of 2025.
“Under Dr. Creed’s leadership, Campbell has grown — in stature, in opportunity, in spirit, in ambition and in belief in what’s possible — and in athletics, we’ve felt that support deeply,” said Athletics Director Hannah Bazemore. “To us, Dr. Creed has been more than just a president — he has been a true advocate, a consistent presence and a firm believer in the value of sport as an extension of the academic mission.
“He has understood that that value isn’t just in wins and losses, but in what sport teaches our student-athletes about discipline, teamwork and resilience. He’s encouraged us to dream big, to do things the right way and to always keep our students at the center.”