Dr. Nayef H. Samhat, ESIA BA ’83, has been named president of Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC. Samhat has served as provost and professor of political science and international studies at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, since 2009. He will succeed the retiring Dr. Benjamin B. Dunlap this summer.
Samhat held several positions at Centre College in Danville, KY, from 1996 to 2009, including associate dean of the college, the Frank B. and Virginia Hower Associate Professor of Government and International Studies, chair of the Division of Social Studies, and the National Endowment for the Humanities Associate Professor of Government and International Studies.
After receiving his bachelor’s degree in international economics from GW, Samhat received his master of international affairs degree from Columbia University in New York City. He received his PhD in political science from Northwestern University, where he also received a minor in comparative political economy.
While at Kenyon, Samhat has overseen a number of major grants, including two from the Mellon Foundation: a Critical Languages and Innovative Pedagogy grant to support post-doctoral teaching fellowships for Russian and Arabic languages, and a grant for the Center for Innovative Pedagogy and The Essentials: Renewing General Education within the Curriculum to enhance the endowment for a previously Mellon-funded Teacher Teaching Teachers grant
