Press Release

Oglethorpe University Hires New Provost

ATLANTA - Oglethorpe University President Lawrence M. Schall announced today the appointment of Stephen B. Herschler to the position of provost at Oglethorpe University.

After a national search, Herschler, Oglethorpe University associate professor of politics and honors program director, was chosen to replace William Shropshire, interim provost, who will return to retirement in September.

“Dr. Herschler and I share an optimism and a common vision for the university’s future. He is an articulate and passionate voice for the faculty, and I expect him to continue in that role,” said President Schall.

Herschler is currently a professor of politics where he teaches courses in comparative politics, Chinese and Asian politics, political development and language and politics as well as teaching in Oglethorpe’s core curriculum. Joining the Oglethorpe University faculty in 2001, Herschler has received such academic honors as the Vulcan Materials Company Teaching Excellence and Leadership Award and was a faculty inductee to the Omicron Delta Kappa Honor Society.

“Exceptional educational endeavors occur here at Oglethorpe every day, in large measure because of the diligence and dedication of its faculty. If I can help to affirm, facilitate and support current academic endeavors, if I can serve a constructive role in working with the faculty and the administration to foster the academic program’s development, then I consider it my duty to do so,” said Dr. Herschler.

Prior to joining Oglethorpe University, Herschler served as an instructor at the University of Chicago and a Princeton-in-Asia English teacher for the Dalian Institute of Technology and South China Normal University. He also served as a senior research fellow at the Hopkins-Nanjing Institute for International Studies. Herschler earned his bachelor’s degree in politics, magna cum laude, from Princeton University. He earned his master’s degree and Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

Active in professional organizations, Herschler is a member of the American Political Science Association, the Association of Asian Studies, the Asian Network and the China Research Center. He has participated in such programs as the ASIANetwork Conference, the Public Administration Theory Network and the Twenty-First Century Liberal Education: A Contested Concept at Transylvania University. In addition, Herschler has presented and published a number of articles and papers.

“From this new position I hope to help the university and its experienced and dedicated faculty build upon its growing national reputation as a college of academic excellence,” said Dr. Herschler.