ISSUED: 20 November 2024
MEDIA CONTACT: Hans Fogle
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — Shepherd University named Dr. Jack DeRochi as the new provost and vice president for academic affairs.
University President Dr. Mary J.C. Hendrix made the announcement this week.
“We are pleased to welcome Dr. DeRochi to Shepherd,” Hendrix said. “He brings a wealth of knowledge surrounding the challenges impacting higher education today and solutions for meeting the evolving needs of our students — to ensure their success. We look forward to working with him and having his experience, leadership and insights.”
A search committee recommended DeRochi following a national search to find a new provost to succeed Dr. Robert Tudor, who has served as interim provost and vice president for academic affairs since 2023.
Dr. Hendrix recognized Tudor for his tenure as interim provost, which included working through an academic prioritization and restructuring, in addition to initiating an administrative prioritization.
“We are most grateful to Dr. Tudor for his leadership and dedication to Shepherd,” Hendrix said. “He took on incredible challenges as interim provost, all while supporting his colleagues and our students. He has moved Shepherd forward in a noteworthy manner, and he will always have our deepest appreciation and respect.”
DeRochi said he is excited to join the Shepherd community when he assumes his new role on February 17, 2025.
“I am thrilled to be joining such a rich and collegial community,” DeRochi said. “As a regional public liberal arts university, Shepherd University delivers generational impact to its students and their families.”
DeRochi currently serves as the dean of Graduate, Continuing, and Online Education at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina, where he started the university’s first 100% online graduate program and established their first community advisory board for graduate education.
In 2022, DeRochi gave a plenary address at the Conference of Southern Graduate Schools (CSGS) Conference, where he previously served as president, focusing on the challenges impacting higher education.
He said Shepherd is well-positioned to face those challenges head-on.
“It is critical for institutions like Shepherd to innovate and provide expanded access to its dedicated faculty and staff through a diversity of academic programs and delivery models,” DeRochi said. “Equally important, schools must intentionally adapt their student support systems to meet the needs of today’s students, who are often working full-time and bearing familial responsibilities.”
DeRochi earned his Ph.D. at the University of South Carolina.
He is a tenured professor of English at Winthrop University and previously served as the associate dean at the College of Arts and Science.
DeRochi served on the board of the Council for Historically Black Graduate Schools and was recently named a Fellow of the P3-Edu Organization, which seeks to develop best practices and expand the impact of public-private partnerships in higher education.
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