time a United States Navy ensign assigned to NASA's Research Projects Division. The first official on-campus graduation ceremony at UAH was in June 1970. The first woman to earn a Ph.D. from UAH was Virginia Kobler in 1979, in Industrial Engineering.
UAH's second president, John Wright, former Vice Chancellor of the West Virginia University, served from 1979 to 1988. UAH's third president was Louis Padulo, former Stanford professor and dean of engineering of Boston University. Huntsville leader Joseph Moquin took over the UAH presidency on an interim basis in 1990. Frank Franz, who was then provost at West Virginia University, was chosen as UAH's fourth president. His wife, Judy Franz, accompanied him and was granted full professorship in the physics faculty. Her renown in the scientific community was reaffirmed when she was named executive officer of the American Physical Society in 1994.
=== 2000s to present ===
At the beginning of the 2006–2007 academic year, Franz announced his plan to step down as president …
