John Welty

John D. Welty, a native of Amboy, Illinois, was the seventh and longest-serving president of Fresno State University before retiring on May 8, 2013. He was appointed president on July 29, 1991. Before coming to Fresno, he had previously served as president of Indiana University of Pennsylvania for seven years. Welty has a doctorate in administration of higher education from Indiana University.

On August 17, 2012, Welty announced that he would retire as president of Fresno State in the summer of 2013.

In April 2011, his wife was appointed dean of graduate studies at Fresno State. The appointment was questioned by some faculty members while other positions and salaries are in the process of being cut. The provost announced Brown-Welty's appointment less than a week after the previous dean announced her departure and without searching or accepting other applications. Some faculty have accused the university of making the appointment so that Brown-Welty could retire with a higher pension.

In 2000, John Welty was elected to serve as the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) Commissioner and served a three-year term. He is past chair of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and the Western Athletic Conference Board of Directors.

In recognition of his highly productive career in higher education, Welty was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Western Illinois University, where he completed his undergraduate studies in 1965 before going on to Michigan State University.