Dr. Christopher Ames, of Chestertown, Maryland, has been named vice president for academic affairs at Shepherd University. He will begin his duties in January 2013.

Reporting to the university president and serving as a member of the executive staff, Ames will provide collaborative academic leadership and management for faculty, academic staff, and students. He will supervise the deans of Shepherd’s four schools, graduate studies, library and teaching and learning center.

“With his considerable background and experience in the liberal arts, Dr. Ames will strengthen the university’s academic programs and help solidify Shepherd’s position as a premier public liberal arts university,” said Shepherd President Suzanne Shipley.

Currently serving as the special assistant to the president of Washington College, Ames had served as the provost and dean of the college at Washington College for five years and as provost and senior vice president at Oglethorpe University for five years. Ames has taught at Stanford University and Agnes Scott College where he was the Charles A. Dana Professor of English.

Ames earned a Ph.D in English literature from Stanford University and a bachelor’s degree with special honors in the multidisciplinary liberal arts program at the University of Texas, Austin. He attended the Aspen Institute Executive Seminar on Leadership and is a graduate of Harvard University’s Institute of Educational Management.

A member of Phi Beta Kappa, Ames was named to a Danforth Foundation Graduate Fellowship and a Fleur Cowles Fellowship at the Humanities Research Center in Austin, Tex. He won the Alden Prize for Best Dissertation in English Literature at Stanford and served as a Haynes Foundation Fellow at the Huntington Library in San Marino.

The author of two books and numerous papers, Ames was the co-founder and organizer of the Kent County Poetry Festival and served on the board of trustees as treasurer and fundraiser for the Atlanta Theater Group’s 7 Stages.