David C. Paris, acting vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty at Hamilton College, has been named to that post for a five-year term, effective immediately.
Selection of the 51-year-old professor of government to become the college's chief academic officer concludes an extensive nationwide search that began last fall. Paris assumes the position held by Bobby Fong, who was named president of Butler University in Indianapolis, Ind., in December.
"David Paris has the judgment, leadership and vision to serve as Hamilton's chief academic officer," said President Eugene M. Tobin. "He is a person of great energy and integrity who has demonstrated his strong advocacy for the faculty and the academic program. I look forward to working with him as we enter another important period in Hamilton's 190-year history."
Paris assumes the academic vice presidency as the college's faculty members make final preparations to launch a new curriculum in the fall. In addition, he has been a leading contributor in drafting a strategic plan that focuses on the academic program and will guide decision-making and planning at the college for the next three to five years. The college is already planning to break ground next spring for a $60 million investment in new science facilities.
"As much as anyone on campus, David Paris has provided the intellectual capital and strategic vision for Hamilton's immediate future," Tobin said. "He is richly deserving of this appointment, and Hamilton is already a better institution because of the leadership he has brought to the academic program."
A 1971 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Hamilton College, Paris received his master's degree in 1973 and his Ph.D. in 1975 from Syracuse University. He taught as an assistant professor of political science at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University before returning to College Hill as a member of the Hamilton faculty in 1979. Prior to assuming his current position, Paris was associate dean of the faculty, Emerson director of curricular development and James S. Sherman Professor of Government.
Throughout his 22-year tenure at Hamilton, Paris has consistently served in leadership roles for the faculty, including as chair for the On-Campus Planning Committee from 1996 to the present, the Committee on Appointments from 1995-96, the Committee on Writing from 1987-89, the Department of Government from 1984-94, and the Committee on Academic Policy from 1983-84. He also served as assistant dean of the faculty from 1986-87, and from 1986 to 1991 he administered a $500,000 grant from the Pew Foundation to develop materials for computer-assisted instruction in the humanities and social sciences.
Paris has particular interest in education and public policy, and he counts among his many publications a number of books and articles, including Ideology and Education Reform: Theories and Themes in Public Education (Westview Press, 1995). He also has been interested and involved in faculty development programs and activities. Among his honors are teaching awards from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and the 1990 Sears Foundation Award for Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership at Hamilton.
Locally, Paris has been a member of the Clinton Central School Board, including serving as president from 1990-92, and was on the Board of the Directors of the Kirkland United Way and A Better Chance. He and his wife, Candace, and their three daughters reside in Clinton.
Hamilton College provides its 1,700 diverse and talented students with a superior liberal arts education in a residential environment. The college's emphases on individualized instruction, intense student-faculty contact and consistently rigorous academic programs contribute to demonstrable excellence in students' critical, analytical and creative thinking, written and oral communication, and breadth and depth of knowledge.
