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Dr. William Louthan is a Professor
in the Department of Politics and Government at Ohio Wesleyan University
specializing in judicial politics (especially the United States
Supreme Court) and constitutional law (especially civil right and
liberties).
After serving for fourteen years as Provost and Vice President for
Academic Affairs (including one year as Acting President, 1993-94)
at Ohio Wesleyan University, Dr. Louthan now serves OWU as Director
of the Lyceum for Liberal Learning in law and as McKendree Professor
of Political Science.
He earned his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in Constitutional Law and Jurisprudence
at The Ohio State University where, as an undergraduate, he wrote
a report on presidential nominating procedures in Ohio (published
by the National Municipal League) and, as a graduate research associate
working under a grant from the National Municipal League, he studied
the impact of reapportionment in Ohio.
Dr. Louthan took his first full-time position as Assistant Professor
of Government and Public Administration at American University in
Washington, D.C. in 1970. During his second year at American University
he served as Director of the Washington Semester Program and as
associate editor (for legal affairs) of ELECTIONews (a monthly publication
intended mainly for federal, state and local elections officials
published by the Washington, D.C.-based Institution for Elections
Administration).
In 1972, he arrived at Ohio Wesleyan University as an Assistant
Professor of Politics and Government to begin a long career as a
liberal arts educator. He was promoted to Associate Professor in
1974 and to Full Professor in 1979, and was chosen to occupy the
McKendree Chair in Political Science in 1983. Dr. Louthan was presented
with the Sherwood Dodge Shankland Award in 1977 and the Bishop Herbert
Welch Award in 1983, becoming the first Ohio Wesleyan professor
to win both outstanding teacher awards presented annually at commencement.
In 1990, he was also honored as the first winner of the Foundation
of Independent Higher Education's Teaching Excellence and Campus
Leadership Award.
He has held a number of administrative positions at Ohio Wesleyan
including: Acting Dean of Academic Affairs (1977-78), Chair, Department
of Politics and Government (1978-84), and Dean of Academic Affairs
and Executive Assistant to the President (1984-87). He was the Provost
from 1991-2005, and served as Acting President for a little over
a year between the Warren and Courtice administrations in 1993-94.
As a faculty member, Dr. Louthan has worked on many faculty committees
including service at various points as chair of the Academic Policy
Committee, the Faculty Personnel Committee, and the University Governance
Committee.
His primary research fields have been legal process and jurisprudence
(especially the U.S. Supreme Court) and public policy (especially
ethics policies and education policies). He is the author of five
books including The United States Supreme Court: Law Making in the
Third Branch of Government, published by Prentice-Hall and praised
by CQ's How to Research the Supreme Court as a "major work
on the Supreme Court…that (is) of lasting interest to Supreme
Court scholars." He is also the author of dozens of professional
articles and more than fifty book reviews and review essays. He
also served as political science editor of the Ohio Journal of Economics
and Politics and as general Editor of the Political Science Series
for Kennikat Press. In addition to his work as an editor, he serves
regularly as a manuscript reviewer for several professional journals
and publishing houses.
Dr. Louthan is a past president of the Ohio Association of Political
Scientists and Economists. And he serves currently as a consultant/evaluator
for the North Central Association and as an Academic Assembly Delegate
to the College Board. He is married, the father of two, the older
of which graduated from Ohio Wesleyan in 1993.
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