Frank Lazarus



Francis M. Lazarus, Ph.D. is the provost and vice president for academic affairs at Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts. He began this position on June 15, 2010.

He was most recently the president of the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas. Dr. Lazarus served as the president from 2004 until his retirement in 2009, when he was honored by the Board of Trustees of the University of Dallas with the title President Emeritus. Dr. Lazarus led the University through several major events, including a proposal for the George W. Bush Presidential Library, a proposed School of Pharmacy, and the creation of the UD School of Ministry.

The former Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost of the University of San Diego began his position at USD in July 1996, after serving at Marquette University, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he was Vice President for Academic Affairs from 1988 to 1996.

Lazarus, a native of Elma, New York, came to his position at Marquette University in 1988 after eight years at the University of Dayton in Ohio, where he served as the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Prior to joining Dayton, Lazarus was Associate Academic Dean at Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. During his seven years at Salem College, he was Chairman of Classics and Director of the Honors Program.

Lazarus was named an Administrative Fellow of the American Council on Education in 1978, serving for one year as a Special Assistant to the President of Memphis State University. Before joining the Salem College faculty, he was an Assistant Professor at the United States Military Academy at West Point from 1970 to 1973.

Lazarus has participated as a professional archaeologist in excavations in Nemea, Greece, as part of a 1977 University of California expedition and in Tel Beer Sheba, Israel, as part of a 1972 Tel Aviv University/University of North Carolina joint expedition. In 1993, he was a consultant to a University Feasibility Study at the Port Authority of Freeport, Bahamas.

Lazarus holds an A.B. degree (with concentrations in classical languages and philosophy) from Canisius College in Buffalo, New York, and he was awarded the College's Distinguished Alumni Award in 2005. He also holds the M.A. and a Ph.D. in Classical Languages from Cornell University.

He is the editor of Discovery, Faith, Service: Perspectives on Jesuit Education (Marquette University Press, 1992).

Lazarus and his wife, Carol, have three children.