Interim Dean of the Honors College Selected

Officials at Texas Tech announced that Stephen E. Fritz will become the interim dean of the Honors College.

The announcement came from Provost Bob Smith.

“Dr. Fritz is the ideal person to assume the interim deanship in the Honors College,” Smith said. “With his incredible career as an academician and an administrator, he can provide overall academic and management leadership to the college in all areas of education, and, with the provost and other deans, to the dynamic academic enterprise at the university.”

Fritz is a member of the Registry for College and University Presidents, a nonprofit organization which engages former university presidents interested in service in interim leadership roles. He will not be a candidate for the permanent dean’s position.

“It is a distinct privilege and opportunity for me to be included in the Texas Tech community to serve as interim dean of the Honors College,” Fritz said. “I have a deep commitment to continue to build a learning environment which inspires outstanding achievement as our gifted students strive to reach their full potential. Working together, we will provide our students an essential foundation to become leaders with a passion for learning, personal growth, and achievement.”

Fritz graduated magna cum laude in 1966 with a bachelor’s degree in history and English from Murray State University in Murray, Ky. He received his master’s degree from Southern Illinois University in 1968 and his doctorate from University of Kentucky in 1972.

He did two post-doctoral projects from 1976 to 1978 at Oxford University in the U.K.; one at Exeter College and the other at The Queen’s College. Since 2007, Fritz has served as president of Midland Lutheran College in Fremont, Neb. Prior to that, he served as president of New England College in Henniker, N.H., where he oversaw record financial surpluses, student enrollment, the creation of online degree opportunities and the creation of the NEC Academic Press.