Administration

Jonathan J. Sanford, Ph.D., is the 10th president of the University of Dallas. President Sanford, who previously served as provost and dean of UD’s Constantin College of Liberal Arts and holds a doctorate in philosophy, is a noted scholar in virtue ethics. Sanford has published widely on philosophical figures and topics, especially in foundational questions in moral philosophy, as evidenced in “Before Virtue: Assessing Contemporary Virtue Ethics” (The Catholic University of America Press 2015). As provost, Sanford oversaw the development of a university-wide strategic plan, and as president, he is focused on leading its implementation by building on the university’s reputation for academic rigor, its commitment to classical Western tradition, and its faithful Catholic identity. 

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Plotts joined the University of Dallas in December 2008. He currently serves as executive vice president of the university and served as interim president during the 2018-19 academic year. During his tenure, Plotts has revamped the university’s admission process; overseen student life and athletics; overseen the finance, legal and human resources functions; and served as the university’s informal ambassador to the City of Irving’s governmental officials.

Previously, he held the position of vice president for enrollment and accreditation at Parker University, where he restructured and re-engineered the college's planning and evaluation process, implemented a new strategic retention program and raised more than $1 million through strategic business partnerships, as well as a host of other accomplishments. He was also the dean of enrollment management at Parker University for more than two years. Some of his triumphs in that role included creating an enrollment management model, establishing targeted recruiting efforts, and enrolling a class with the highest GPA in the school's history.

Plotts received his Ed.D. from the University of North Texas, his master's degree from Dallas Theological Seminary and his bachelor's degree from Clarks Summit University of Pennsylvania.

As provost, Dr. Matthias Vorwerk oversees the University of Dallas’ three academic colleges, the university library and Student Affairs. A native of Detmold, Germany, Vorwerk’s academic expertise is in ancient philosophy, the works of Plato and Plotinus, and the philosophy of human nature. In 1998, he received his Ph.D. from the University of Münster. Vorwerk has written or co-authored four books in German on Plotinus and the history of Platonism, published numerous articles and papers for academic publications and conferences, and is a member of the Board of Directors of American Friends of the Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation. 

Director of the Rome Campus, Dr. Peter Hatlie, was born and raised in Minnesota. He holds a B.A. in Classics from St. Olaf College and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Medieval and Byzantine History from Fordham University. He came to UD Rome in 1999 after holding positions in the U.S., Bulgaria, Turkey and the Netherlands. He was the acting Academic Director of the Rome Program in 2003, the Academic Director of the Rome Program from Fall of 2005 to Spring 2008, and is now the Dean and Director of the Rome Campus. Dr. Hatlie also teaches History and Ancient Greek.

Heather A. Lachenauer is an experienced litigator, appellate advocate and educator who has successfully represented international companies, federal agencies, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. She has advocated on behalf of clients in a variety of pro bono matters involving asylum, the death penalty, and religious liberty, among others. Lachenauer has taught political science, rhetoric, and poetics and aesthetics as an adjunct professor and is a former member of the Board of Regents of St. John Paul the Great Catholic University. She is the co-founder of Epiphany Prep Charter School, a school dedicated to providing quality education to children living in low-income communities in San Diego.

Prior to practicing law, Lachenauer spent 10 years working in the field of international development and humanitarian aid, with a focus on legal reform and economic development in Central and Eastern Europe and West Africa and the development of sustainable education in Papua New Guinea.

Lachenauer completed her undergraduate work at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. She studied philosophy and theology at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology and obtained a master’s degree in education and human development at The George Washington University. She earned her law degree from the University of Notre Dame School of Law.

A Virginia native, Lachenauer is a member of the State Bar of California and the State Bar of Texas, and is admitted to practice before multiple federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court.

Having served at multiple Texas universities during highly successful comprehensive campaigns, Vetter brings to her role two decades of experience as a higher education fundraiser and administrator. Committed to advancing the mission of Catholic liberal arts education, Vetter was in the inaugural class of the University of Texas at Austin’s Liberal Arts Honors Program. At UT, she obtained a bachelor’s degree in architecture and art history and later earned an M.A. in art history from the University of Chicago. Vetter also completed Ph.D. coursework in Roman art and architectural history at UT Austin. She is married to Deacon Paul Vetter of the Diocese of Dallas, and they have one son, Noah, who is a junior at Cistercian Preparatory School.

Venegas started her career as a reporter and editor at the Orange County Register in Southern California, where she covered local government and community news. She went on to hold several positions in marketing and corporate communications in Orange County and Silicon Valley. Subsequently, Venegas served as president/executive director of Obria Medical Clinics, the largest network of life-affirming women’s health care clinics in Southern California. Most recently, she served as vice president at Curt Pringle & Associates, a public relations and government affairs consulting firm in Southern California. She and her husband, Matt, recently relocated to north Texas, and are proud parents to three school-aged children. 

Robert Watling, CPA, oversees accounting, audit, treasury, procurement, debt management, student accounts and budget operations at the University of Dallas.

Watling has more than 15 years of finance experience in higher education serving as a chief business officer for a college or administrative division. Prior to joining the University of Dallas in January 2020, Watling was the Vice Provost for Academic Resources at the University of North Texas. In this role, he implemented an academic financial program review to facilitate a more strategic and data-informed allocation of resources. Watling brings valuable private sector experience to his work in higher education. Before focusing his career in higher education, Watling spent about five years in corporate finance focusing on financial statement analysis.

Watling has been a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in Virginia since 2007 and in Texas since 2010. He is a member of the Southern Association of College and University Business Officers (SACUBO) chairing the Small Institutions Constituent Committee. Watling holds a bachelor’s degree from George Mason University and an MBA from Virginia Tech. A veteran of the United States Army, Robert was awarded the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal for service in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Although Joshua Parens has taught at the University of Dallas for 16 years, he only recently assumed his current role as dean of the Braniff Graduate School of Liberal Arts. Like all UD professors, he teaches widely, but he especially enjoys studying political philosophy with graduate students. As the son of a Shoah survivor, his lifelong interest has been in understanding spiritedness, love of one’s own, or what late moderns call “rootedness,” and its place in the economy of human life, which may be the first question of political philosophy.

He has a book forthcoming in spring 2016, titled "Leo Strauss and the Recovery of Medieval Political Philosophy," which will be the first title in a book series published by University of Rochester Press and Boydell & Brewer, which he is co-editing with Douglas Kries of Gonzaga University. He has published many articles on Alfarabi, Maimonides, and Spinoza and two books on Alfarabi on Plato and Aristotle, respectively with SUNY Press: "Metaphysics as Rhetoric" (1995) and "An Islamic Philosophy of Virtuous Religions" (2006). His last book "Maimonides and Spinoza: Their Conflicting Views of Human Nature" was published by the University of Chicago Press (2012). He co-edited with Joseph Macfarland the second edition of the classic anthology by Ralph Lerner and Muhsin Mahdi, "Medieval Political Philosophy: A Sourcebook" (Cornell University Press, 2011). He also has writing projects on Bacon, Descartes, Montesquieu and Heidegger.

Philip Harold joined the University of Dallas in 2021 as Professor of Political Science and Dean of the Constantin College of Liberal Arts, which includes all undergraduate programs and the Academic Success Office. Previously he served at Robert Morris University outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he served in a number of administrative positions, including Co-Director of the University Honors Program, Associate Dean of the School of Informatics, Humanities, and Social Sciences, and Interim Dean of the School of Education and Social Sciences. There he worked to create new undergraduate and graduate programs, re-found the University Honors Program and develop it into a signature academic program, and manage a number of successful initiatives pertaining to academic rigor and student enrollment.

Harold holds a MA and PhD in Politics from The Catholic University of America, and a BA in Political Science and Philosophy from Franciscan University of Steubenville. He has taught a variety of politics courses, and his research focuses on modern political thought.

Dr. Susan Rhame, Interim Dean and Associate Professor of Accounting, has served on the faculty of the Gupta College of Business at the University of Dallas since 2008. She also served as the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs from 2015-2017. Dr. Rhame received her Ph.D. in Accounting from the University of Texas at Arlington, and her undergraduate and masters degrees from Mississippi State University and Louisiana State University. Prior to beginning her professional career in the tax department of the Dallas office of Arthur Young & Co., she became a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). Additionally, she has published peer-reviewed articles in accounting research topics including tax equity, online accounting pedagogy, and retirement planning.

Cherie Hohertz, assistant provost for accreditation and strategic initiatives, has been with the University of Dallas for 20 years.  Before serving as assistant provost, she held the position of dean of university libraries and research and director of institutional accreditation.  She has served the university as an adjunct instructor in the Satish and Yasmin Gupta College of Business and is currently the staff accompanist for the music department.

Hohertz holds a bachelor’s of music in piano performance from Millsaps College, a master's of library science from Texas Woman’s University, and is currently a doctoral student in the Satish and Yasmin Gupta College of Business.  Her research interests are centered around employee engagement, leader-member exchange, and job performance. Her most recent publications include articles on using technology to deliver library services to distance education students.

Ryan D. Reedy, BA ’05 MH ’10, joined the University of Dallas in 2007 and currently serves as chief of staff to President Jonathan J. Sanford.  A graduate of Constantin College (history) and the Braniff Graduate School (humanities), Reedy has a long history with the University of Dallas, having previously served as the coach of the women's soccer team, vice director and assistant dean of the Eugene Constantin Campus in Rome, and assistant provost. In his role as assistant provost, Reedy assisted in the development of the university's strategic plan and coordinated relations with international partners.  As chief of staff, Reedy oversees several offices and strategic initiatives, including the St. Ambrose Center, the Institute for Homiletics, and the Ann & Joe O. Neuhoff Institute for Ministry and Evangelization . A native of Colorado, Reedy, along with his wife and children, lived on the university's Rome campus for seven years before returning to North Texas in 2017.

Mary E. Fleck, Ph.D., joined the University of Dallas in 2017. She currently services as chief human resources officer and oversees talent acquisition, performance management, employee relations, benefits and total rewards, risk mitigation and regulatory compliance.

Fleck has over two decades of higher education leadership experience both in student affairs and academic affairs. Previously, she was associate dean of extended university for California State University Channel Islands, in which she collaborated with faculty chairs to launch eight graduate programs, and established and managed two satellite campuses. Specializing in human resource and organizational development, she also brings over a decade of training, workforce development and accreditation experience from serving in the nonprofit sector and in the nuclear power industry. Dedicated to helping professionals advance in their careers, she has taught management and human resource classes as an adjunct instructor at the University of Dallas and other institutions throughout her career.

Fleck earned the distinguished senior human resource professional (SPHR) certification in 2018 and is a member of the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM). An Ohio native, she earned her master’s and doctorate in the field of Human Resource Development from the University of Toledo. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Human Resource Management from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.