Dr. G. Thomas Mann, President
Davis & Elkins College

Dr. G. Thomas Mann assumed his duties as the twelfth president of Davis & Elkins College on July 1, 1998. He brings to his position more than 30 years of professional experience in private higher education; 13 of these years he served as chief academic officer.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, and raised in nearby Southfield, Dr. Mann began his undergraduate studies at Graceland College in Iowa. After two years in Iowa and an additional year and a half abroad, at the University of Freiburg and the Free University of Berlin in Germany, he completed his bachelor’s degree in German at Wayne State University. He earned the master’s degree from the University of Kansas, spending a year as an exchange student at the University of Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. He was awarded the Ph.D. degree in Germanic languages and literature by the University of Michigan. His particular academic interests are in the post-idealistic movements of German literature of the late 18th and early 19th centuries and in 20th century literature.

Dr. Mann joined the faculty of Graceland College in 1967, serving as professor of German, chair of the foreign languages department, and chair of the humanities division. In the mid-1970s, he also taught as a Fulbright-Hayes exchange teacher at Bertolt Brecht Gymnasium in Munich, Germany.

In 1985, Dr. Mann was appointed Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty at Graceland College. In 1991, he became Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College at West Virginia Wesleyan College, where he also served as interim president in 1994-1995.

Dr. Mann’s experience as a student abroad at the height of the Cold War indelibly shaped his commitment to intercultural understanding and internationalizing the academy. As a faculty member, he designed the German curriculum around study abroad. He has led groups of American students to Hungary and Bulgaria, has facilitated exchange programs for students from Eastern Europe in the United States, and has traveled to Japan to recruit students for study in this country.

Dr. Mann has been married since 1970 to Carolyn Schorfheide Mann, a former German instructor and professional librarian.

Dr. Mann serves as a consultant/evaluator for the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education, North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, and is on the board of directors for the Appalachian College Association, Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities, APCU Health and Risk Management Trusts, Randolph County Development Authority, Mountain State Forest Festival, Mission West Virginia, and Elkins Rotary Club. He is also a member of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the Elkins/Randolph County Chamber of Commerce.