Tom's Biography

Thomas Ehrlich is a Visiting Professor at the Stanford University School of Education. He has previously served as president of Indiana University, provost of the University of Pennsylvania, and dean of Stanford Law School. He was also the first president of the Legal Services Corporation in Washington, DC, and the first director of the International Development Cooperation Agency, reporting to President Carter. After his tenure at Indiana University, he was a Distinguished University Scholar at California State University and taught regularly at San Francisco State University. From 2000 to 2010 he was a Senior Scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He is author, co-author, or editor of 14 books including Preparing Undergraduates for Business: Liberal Learning for Professional Education (2011), which won the Ness Prize for the best book of the year on liberal education; Reconnecting Education and Foundations: Turning Good Intentions into Educational Capital (2007); Educating for Democracy: Preparing Undergraduates for Lives of Responsible Political Engagement (2007); and Civic Work, Civic Lessons: Two Generations Reflect on Public Service, with Ernestine Fu (2013). He has been a trustee of Bennett College, of Mills College, and of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School and holds five honorary degrees. He is also member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.