Harold Stanley named Vice President for Executive Affairs

Harold W. Stanley

DALLAS (SMU) – Academic leader and political science scholar Harold W. Stanley has been named SMU’s vice president for executive affairs, effective Feb. 1, 2016. Stanley has been serving as vice president for academic affairs and provost ad interim since June. He previously served as an SMU associate provost. 

In his new role he will work with SMU President R. Gerald Turner on strategic planning, campus master planning and a variety of other University matters. He replaces Thomas E. Barry, who has served in the position since 1995. Barry has announced his retirement from that position, effective Dec. 31.

 “Harold Stanley’s service in the Office of the Provost has provided him with deep knowledge of the University and its operations,” Turner said. “He has served on committees focusing on the curriculum, honors program and the Second Century Campaign. As a distinguished member of the Political Science faculty, he brings a strong understanding of the University’s mission of teaching, research and service. I am delighted that an accomplished academic administrator from within the SMU community is ready to step into this important role.”

As an associate provost, Stanley oversaw SMU’s international study, research and internship programs in its International Center; teaching, research and other activities at the University’s New Mexico campus, SMU-in-Taos; student academic services in the Altshuler Learning Enhancement Center and the Loyd Center for the Academic Development of Student Athletes; and the University’s most prestigious scholarship for exceptional students, the President’s Scholars program.

Stanley came to SMU in 2003 as the Geurin-Pettus Distinguished Chair in American Politics and Political Economy in Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences.

At SMU, Stanley has been a member of the Executive Board of the John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies since 2003. He has also chaired the Honors Task Force (2006-07), served on the General Education Review Committee (2007-09), and co-chaired the Faculty/Staff Steering Committee for the Second Century Campaign (2009-10). He received SMU’s Distinguished University Citizen Award in 2008 and the University’s highest recognition, the “M” Award, in 2010. He was honored with the Outstanding Administrator Award in 2013.

Stanley has written three books: Vital Statistics on American Politics, now in its 15th edition (CQ Press); Voter Mobilization and the Politics of Race: The South and Universal Suffrage, 1952-1984 (Praeger, 1987), and Senate vs. Governor, Alabama 1971: Referents for Opposition in a One-Party Legislature (University of Alabama Press, 1975). He has also published numerous reviews, book chapters and journal articles in the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, and the Journal of Politics, among others.

A former president of the Southern Political Science Association, Stanley received the 2010 Outstanding Teaching in Political Science Award from Pi Sigma Alpha and the American Political Science Association. Earlier this year, he was named a 2015-16 Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar.

Stanley received his B.A. degree from Yale in 1972, graduating magna cum laude as well as with honors with exceptional distinction in political science. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University (Worcester College) from 1972-75, earning a Master of Philosophy in politics. He returned to Yale to earn his Ph.D. in political science in 1981.

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