Washington college professor and administrator Christopher Ames has been named Vice President of Academic Affairs at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, effective late January 2013. Ames is currently Special Assistant to the President and Professor of English at Washington College, where he served as Provost and Dean of the College from 2006 to 2011. Earlier in his career he taught and held administrative posts at Agnes Scott College and Oglethorpe University.
As the public liberal arts university of West Virginia, Shepherd enrolls more than 4,000
students and is a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. It offers an education grounded in the liberal arts and sciences and supplemented by nationally accredited programs in business management, nursing, education, and social work. Dr. Ames will oversee the five academic deans, the library and the Center for Teaching and Learning.
“Shepherd is committed to affordability and to connecting the liberal arts and pre-professional education,” says Ames. “I’m excited about bringing my years of experience in private liberal arts colleges to help with its inspiring mission.”
During his tenure at Washington College, Dr. Ames helped raise more than $10 million for academic initiatives and programs, hired 30 percent of the College’s faculty and worked with professors to develop a four-year coordinated approach to the teaching of writing. He also led a comprehensive plan to enhance services to students with learning challenges and other disabilities. A member of Phi Beta Kappa since 1977, Dr. Ames aided the successful effort to install a chapter of the prestigious honor society at Washington College in 2006.
“Shepherd University is very fortunate to be adding Chris Ames’s experience and intellect to its team,” says Washington College president Mitchell B. Reiss. “Chris and his wife, Lauren, will be missed in Chestertown, but we wish them the very best in this new chapter.”
Dr. Ames was graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a B.A. and Special Honors and earned a Ph.D. in English Literature from Stanford University. He is the author of numerous articles and two books: The Life of the Party: Festive Vision and Modern Fiction and Movies About the Movies:
Tom Martin says
I too wish Chris and Lauren the best in their new endeavor at Shepard and agree they will be a great asset to their new community. While many of us in Chestertown will continue our friendship, I wish to remind people of the very popular Kent County Poetry Festival, an event that was co-founded by Chris and poet/playwright, Robert Earl Price. We will be having the sixth festival next year, a testament to members of the college and town working to bring the two communities together in shared interests. A lot of people talked about bringing the communities together; Chris helped do it, in a most positive fashion with a progressive and lasting result.