About the Chancellor

Steven H. Kaplan, the former dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Butler University in Indianapolis, Ind., became chancellor of The University of Virginia's College at Wise on July 1, 2001

The College's fifth chancellor, Kaplan will be inaugurated during a September 6 ceremony. The public is invited to attend the event, which begins at 1:30 p.m. at the Lawn by the Lake.

Kaplan succeeds L. Jay Lemons, who left UVa-Wise in January 2001 to become president of Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Penn. Lemons had been chancellor of University's only branch college since 1992.

"I feel honored and a deep sense of gratitude to have been selected as the next chancellor of The University of Virginia's College at Wise," Kaplan said. "I welcome the responsibility and challenges that accompany this important position. I believe firmly in the transforming power of a liberal arts education. UVa-Wise has a tradition of not only preparing students for careers but of cultivating their humanity. Based on the high quality of the College's faculty, staff and academic programs, I am confident that together we can lead this institution to new heights as the best public liberal arts college in the nation."

In addition to his time at Butler, Kaplan served as dean of the arts and humanities at the State University of New York College at Buffalo for two years, and before that as director of the Center for International Programs at the University of Southern Colorado in Pueblo. During his tenures as a dean, he worked with state legislators and was involved in fund raising and community relations. At Butler, he chaired the council of deans, represented all the colleges on the board of trustees and chaired the university's strategy and policy team on innovation.

Kaplan was selected to become chancellor following a six-month search process. A 14-member search committee -- comprised of faculty, staff, a student, and representatives from both the UVa-Wise and the University's boards -- reviewed 60 applications for the post.

In addition to his administrative responsibilities, Kaplan served as a professor of English at Butler. He is the author of a book on American translations of the famed German poet Rainer Maria Rilke and numerous articles on American and German literature. In 1995, Kaplan published a book on critically acclaimed Vietnam novelist Tim O'Brien's fiction with the University of South Carolina Press and, in 1994, an anthology of international war stories with the University Press of Colorado.

From 1989 until 1996, Kaplan held several teaching and administrative positions at the University of Southern Colorado, including assistant professor of English, associate professor of English, and chair of the Department of English and Foreign Languages. Kaplan also worked as a visiting lecturer in American studies and as an instructor of English as a second language at Eberhard-Karls Universitat Tubingen in Germany and at the University of Maryland's European division as an instructor of English and American literature and composition.

Kaplan received a bachelor's degree in history from the University of California at Los Angeles and both a master's degree and Ph.D. in comparative literature from the Eberhard-Karls Universitat Tubingen, one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Europe. He also earned a diploma from Harvard University's Management Development Program.

Kaplan, 48, and his wife, Anemone Schweizer-Kaplan, have four children: Aljoscha, 23; Silia, 20; Noemi, 18; and Janina, 16.