Education
He holds the Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in American Studies from Yale University.
He holds the Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in American Studies from Yale University.
He was the president of Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas from 1999 until his retirement in January 2010. He is a native of California. He received an Bachelor of Arts in History in 1968 from Stanford University.
He taught at Yale, then at San Jose State University where he became acting academic vice president
He became president of Southeastern Massachusetts University in 1984, that title changing to chancellor when the university became part of the University of Massachusetts system as the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. He become president of Bradley in 1992.
In 1999 he became the 17th president of Trinity University. In 1997 he was awarded an Honorary Doctor degree from the Samara State University in Russia.
He has published extensively in such scholarly journals as the American Quarterly, Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, American Literary Realism, and the Mississippi Quarterly, and has made numerous presentations.
He currently has two books in progress, Murder and Twenties America and The Twenties on Trial. He was a Director of Caterpillar Incorporated. from 1998 until 2010. He was a Fulbright Senior Scholar at the University of Sydney in 1980.
He served as a member of the United States. Department of Education and American Association of State Colleges and Universities’ mission of American university presidents to the Soviet Union in 1989. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies, Beta Gamma Sigma international honor society in business administration, and an honorary member of Gold Key and Delta Mu Delta national honor society in business administration.