Office of the President

Elliot Hirshman, Ph.D.

Stevenson welcomed its seventh president, Elliot Hirshman, Ph.D., on July 3, 2017. Dr. Hirshman has more than 35 years of experience in higher education, and he previously served as president of San Diego State University (SDSU) before becoming president of Stevenson University. Prior to Dr. Hirshman’s appointment at SDSU, he served as provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). He also served as Chief Research Officer at the George Washington University and chaired the Department of Psychology there and at the University of Colorado at Denver. He began his academic career, rising to the rank of full professor, at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

During his time at Stevenson, Dr. Hirshman has worked with colleagues to develop Stevenson’s campus, expanding indoor and outdoor spaces for student life and recreation; adding new academic facilities; and developing the university’s 117-acre East campus. In addition, he has worked to create more career-focused academic programs and exceptional opportunities for students’ professional development, including the university’s B.S. in Biomedical Engineering, Professional Minors programs, and Stevenson’s first doctoral program, the Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology.

Education

Professional Positions

Academic Positions

Select Leadership and Board Service

• Member, Northwest Hospital Board of Directors (2022-Present)
• Member, Garrison Forest Corridor Task Force (2021-Present)
• Member At-Large, Board of Directors, Owings Mills Corporate Roundtable (2021-Present)
• Vice Chair, Board of Trustees, Maryland Independent College and University Association (2019-Present)
• Chair, Board of Directors, San Diego State University Research Foundation (2011-2017)
• Member, Board of Directors, The Campanile Foundation (2011-2017)
• Member, Chairman’s Competitiveness Council (A partnership of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Council, the San Diego Chamber of Commerce and CONNECT) (2011-2015)
• Chair, Board of Directors, Mountain West Athletic Conference (2015-2016)
• Member, Board of Directors, Mountain West Athletic Conference (2011-2017)
• Member, Executive Committee, Commission on Access, Diversity and Excellence (CADE), Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) (2011-2014)
• Co-Chair, California State University Task Force on a Sustainable Financial Model (2014-2015)
• Chair, Council of Vice Presidents and Deans, UMBC (2008-2011)
• Co-Chair, American East Athletic Conference Strategic Planning-Academic Integrity and Achievement Sub-Committee (2009-2010)
• Member, State of Maryland College Success Task Force (2009-2010)
• Chair, Advisory Board, Alex Brown Center for Entrepreneurship at UMBC (2008-2011)
• Member, University System of Maryland Task Force on Research and Economic Competitiveness (2008-2009)

Selected Honors

• Fellow, American Psychological Association
• American Council on Education Fellow
• Joseph Gengerelli Outstanding Dissertation Award, University of California, Los Angeles
• James McKeen Cattell Outstanding Dissertation Award, New York Academy of Sciences
• Regents Fellowship, University of California, Los Angeles
• Distinction in the Major, Economics and Mathematics, Yale University
• Phi Beta Kappa
• Maryland Daily Record 2022 Power 30 in Higher Education

Selected Publications

Scientific

Hirshman, E. (1988) The expectation-violation effect: Paradoxical effects of Semantic Relatedness. Journal of Memory and Language, 27, 40-58.

Hirshman, E. & Bjork, R. (1988) The generation effect: Support for a two-factor theory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition, 14, 484-494.

Hirshman, E., Trembath, D. & Mulligan, N. (1994) Theoretical implications of the mnemonic benefits of perceptual interference. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition, 20, 608-620.

Hirshman, E. (1995) Decision processes in recognition memory: Criterion shifts and the list strength paradigm. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning Memory and Cognition, 21, 302-313.

Hirshman, E. & Master, S. (1997) Modeling the conscious correlates of recognition memory: Reflections on the Remember-Know paradigm. Memory & Cognition, 25, 345-352.

Hirshman, E. & Henzler, A. (1998) The role of decision processes in conscious memory. Psychological Science, 9, 61-64.

Hirshman, E., Passannante, A. & Arndt, J. (2001) Midazolam amnesia and conceptual processing in implicit memory. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 130, 453-465.

Hirshman, E. (2004) The Psychopharmacology of Memory and Cognition: Promises, Pitfalls and a Methodological Framework. Psychology of Learning and Motivation (Ed.) B. Ross, Vol. 45, 253-271.

Wharton,W., Hirshman, E., Merritt, P., Doyle, L., Paris, S., & Gleason, C. (2008) Oral contraceptives and androgenicity: Influences on visuospatial task performance in younger individuals. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 16, 156-164.

Stangl, B., Hirshman, E. & Verbalis, J. (2011) Administration of dehydroepianrosterone (DHEA) enhances visual-spatial processing in post-menopausal women. Behavioral Neuroscience, 125(5), 742-752.

Administrative Leadership

Hirshman, E. (1998) A national study of private fundraising for graduate fellowships. CASE Currents, July-August, 54-60.

Hirshman, E. & Hrabowski, F. (2011) The Imperative of Institutional Culture Change. Chronicle of Higher Education, January 16.

Hirshman, E. (2016) Technology: Reshaping Economy and Educational Goals. EDUCAUSE Review, 51.