Oct. 17, 2022 (Irving, TX) – The University of Dallas (UD) announced the appointment of reference librarian and adjunct French instructor Ron Scrogham as interim dean of libraries and research of the Cowan-Blakely Memorial Library, and the appointment of longtime Politics Professor Richard Dougherty, Ph.D. ’93 M.A. ’89, to serve as interim dean of the Braniff Graduate School of Liberal Arts.

Scrogham, who was appointed to the interim dean position on Oct. 1, came to UD in 2019 and has served as the reference and serials librarian since 2020. He has also taught as an adjunct instructor in the Department of Modern Languages and previously served as a high school French teacher, school librarian and public reference librarian. He holds an M.A. in French from the University of Kansas and an M.L.S from Emporia State University, KS.

“We are grateful to Mr. Scrogham for assuming this critical leadership position for the library, whichplays a central role for students and faculty in their intellectual pursuits,” said Provost Matthias Vorwerk, Ph.D., who started serving in his role at UD in July.

Dougherty, who has been teaching politics at the undergraduate and graduate levels at UD since 1990, will replace Joshua Parens, Ph.D., who has served as the dean of Braniff for nearly a decade. Parens will continue in his current post until Dec. 31, take a  sabbatical and then return to full-time teaching in the Philosophy Department. Dougherty will serve as interim Braniff dean starting Jan. 1, 2023, for three semesters.

“I am grateful to Dean Parens’ for his long and outstanding service to the Braniff Graduate School, which has flourished under his tenure and continues the long tradition of excellence and innovation,” noted President Jonathan J. Sanford, Ph.D. “We are equally blessed to draw upon Dr. Dougherty’s long tenure and experience to lead Braniff at this time since it is home to our many stellar advanced degree programs, including literature, philosophy, politics and classical education,” he continued. “As an alumnus of the political philosophy doctoral program, I know he will serve our graduates well.”

The university’s 2003 Haggar Fellow, Dougherty is a professor in the politics department, director of the graduate program in politics, and the director of the Leo XIII Center for Philosophy and Social Issues. He received his B.A. from Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Dallas’s Institute of Philosophic Studies. He edited and contributed to the 2019 work Augustine’s Political Thought (University of Rochester Press), which was selected as a 2020 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title. He is a contributor to the most recent volume of Studia Patristica, to Divus Thomas and to The Oxford Guide to the Historical Reception of Augustine, and is the author of the forthcoming entry on St. Augustine’s City of God for Oxford Bibliographies.

A search for a permanent library dean will begin in the coming weeks, while the Braniff dean search will start in fall 2023.

About the University of Dallas

Located in one of the U.S.’s largest and fastest-growing metropolitan areas, the University of Dallas is a nationally recognized Catholic liberal arts university with campuses in Irving, Texas, and Rome, Italy. The university is known for the academic rigor of its undergraduate Core Curriculum, rooted in the great works of Western civilization and Catholic intellectual tradition, as well as offering flexible graduate degree in business, liberal arts and ministry taught by exceptional faculty dedicated to the pursuit of wisdom, truth and virtue. For more information, visit udallas.edu.