Donald Weatherman

Dr. Donald V. Weatherman left Lyon College 10 years ago as a professor of political philosophy and returned July 1 as the 17th president of the college.

Weatherman served as the John D. Trimble Sr. Professor of Political Philosophy at Lyon from 1983 to 1999. He left Batesville to become vice president and dean of Erskine College in South Carolina. In 2003, he was promoted to executive vice president and dean. He also served as a professor of politics at Erskine.

At Erskine, Weatherman was the chief academic officer and, in the president's absence, the principal officer of the college. He was responsible for the faculty, curriculum, academic programs, library, academic records, institutional research, information technology, and an art center and museum. At various times, his responsibilities included enrollment management (admissions/financial aid/retention), student services, and athletics.

At Lyon, Weatherman served as a division chair for several years and received the Lamar Williamson Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 1986.

He earned a Ph.D. in American government and political philosophy from Claremont Graduate University and his master's degree from the same institution. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from California State University at Los Angeles.

Weatherman was a Bradley Resident Scholar for the Heritage Foundation in 1988. He was one of the first to participate in this program designed to bring academics to Washington, D.C.

Before coming to Lyon in 1983, Weatherman held faculty positions at the College of St. Catherine, the College of Idaho, and California State University at San Bernardino.

He has been a member of many academic and civic organizations in both South Carolina and Arkansas. He was a weekly columnist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and the Batesville Daily Guard.  He has been a political analyst for the Index-Journal in Greenwood, S.C.

He has served as an elder and a church school teacher in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

He is the author of a book, ENDANGERED GUARDIANS: PARTY REFORM WITHIN A CONSTITUTIONAL SYSTEM (Rowman and Littlefield, 1994), and has written numerous articles on politics, philosophy, and education, that have appeared in academic journals, reference books, and general publications.

He and his wife, Lynn, have a daughter, a son, and a daughter-in-law.