Dr. Timothy O’Connor is the President of the American University of Central Asia and started working at AUCA in August 2023. He has a distinguished academic and administrative leadership career spanning over 30 years of teaching experience, including 20 years as a Professor of History at the University of Northern Iowa. For more than 12 years, he served as the Vice Rector of Academic Affairs at the National University of Science and Technology MISIS in Moscow, where he was primarily responsible for institutional transformation, including conceiving and implementing international accreditation for select educational programs, fostering collaborations with industrial partners in materials science, metallurgy, and mining, establishing a new Learning and Teaching Center, and leading projects on student and faculty journeys, as well as an International Scientific Advisory Council for external expertise on strategic development.

Dr. O'Connor's academic journey took him from Creighton University, where he completed his BA with dual majors in History and Theology, to the University of Minnesota, where he earned his PhD with a focus on Russian Studies, particularly the history of Soviet Russia. He then embarked on a several-decade-long tenure at the University of Northern Iowa, starting as an assistant professor in the Department of History and eventually rising to the position of professor. He also served as the director of International Programs at UNI before being honored as emeritus professor of History in 2012. 

Dr. O'Connor's association with Soviet and post-Soviet higher education institutions spans nearly five decades, a journey that began with his first trip to the Soviet Union in 1975. His deep understanding of the educational landscape is further enriched by his long-standing involvement with the American Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS, an organization dedicated to promoting language and cultural learning and providing educational and research opportunities for students and scholars worldwide.