Dr. Derek Davis Named Dean of Humanities

07/17/06

Belton, Texas - Dr. Derek H. Davis has been named dean of the College of Humanities, a new college at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, effective before the fall 2006 term commences.  Davis will also serve as the interim dean of Graduate Programs and Research, which is also a new position at the university.

Provost Graham Hatcher announced the appointment of Davis, who formerly served at Baylor University as director of the J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies and as editor of the internationally acclaimed Journal of Church and State.

"Dr. Davis' experience as an attorney coupled with his Ph.D. in Humanities and experiences with the Dawson Institute and its graduate programs have enabled him to bring leadership to both of these new positions in the College of Humanities and as interim Dean of Graduate Programs and Research at UMHB," said Hatcher.

According to Hatcher, adding a College of Humanities was an initiative in the university's strategic plan.  Formerly, all departments under sciences and humanities were combined in one college, the College of Science and Humanities.

Splitting the two divisions, which had grown to be the largest college within the university, allows for both the sciences and the humanities to flourish, said Hatcher. 

"Already we are seeing the College of Sciences develop a niche within the emerging Texas Bioscience Institute in Temple, and the new College of Humanities has attracted a well-recognized Christian scholar in Dr.

Davis to serve as its founding dean," said Hatcher. 

The College of Humanities includes the departments of English, Modern Foreign Languages, History/Political Science, and Communication/Media Studies.

The graduate dean position was also added as part of the university's strategic plan.  The initial goal is to grow graduate enrollment to ten percent of the overall campus, and to add more graduate programs in the future.

Davis holds a bachelor's degree from Baylor University, a Jurist Doctor degree from Baylor, graduate course work in law from Southern Methodist University, a master's degree from Baylor and a doctorate in History of Ideas from the University of Texas at Dallas.  He is the author or editor of sixteen books on religious liberty and related topics.

Davis, of Woodway, is married and has two children, both graduates of Baylor.