Richard Senese

Richard Paul Senese is an American psychologist, academic administrator, and former politician serving as the president of Capella University since 2016. He was chair of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party from 1997 to 1999.

Life Senese is from Iron Range Township, Itasca County, Minnesota. He completed a Ph.D. in the counseling and student personnel psychology program at the University of Minnesota. His November 1997 dissertation was titled, An analogue approach to understanding the impact of spontaneous metaphors. John L. Romano was his advisor.

Senese was a faculty member at Metropolitan State University and College of St. Scholastica. For 13 years, he worked in administration at the University of Minnesota Extension as its founding associate dean for the center for community vitality and later the Extension's senior associate dean.