David Shi

Dr. David E. Shi was named president of Furman University in 1994. Under his guidance, the university has formally adopted sustainability as a primary strategic goal and assumed a leading role among the nation’s colleges in the area of sustainable thinking. Furman was one of 25 charter signatories to the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, and Dr. Shi is a member of the group’s Leadership Circle. His thoughts about sustainability on college campuses have been featured in a podcast for The Chronicle of Higher Education website, and he recently authored an article about Furman’s sustainability efforts for Trusteeship Magazine. Furman was recognized last summer as one of the nation’s 50 most environmentally conscious colleges and universities by KIWI Magazine.

A noted historian, Dr. Shi is the author of several books, including The Simple Life: Plain Living and High Thinking in American Culture, which was a History Book Club selection. Two other books were nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.  He is also the co-author, with the late George B. Tindall, of the best-selling textbook, America: a Narrative History, now in its seventh edition. He has also written numerous essays for newspapers such as The Christian Science Monitor, The Charlotte Observer, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Philadelphia Inquirer. His columns and essays are heard on South Carolina Educational Radio as well.

Dr. Shi has been widely recognized for his leadership abilities as a college president.  In 1999, he was among an elite group of 50 college and university presidents who were recognized by the John Templeton Foundation for their leadership in the development of student character. The previous year, Furman was awarded a $150,000 Presidential Leadership grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. In 2006, he chaired the Board of Directors for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.

Dr. Shi is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and has been a Fellow of the National Humanities Center and the Huntington Library. He was voted the 1994 Administrator of the Year by the Association of Furman Students. In recent years, he has been a board member of the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education, the National Commerce Financial Corporation, the Greenville Chamber of Commerce, the Urban League of the Upstate, the Metropolitan Arts Council, and the Commerce Club.  He is past chair of the Southern Conference Council of Presidents and the Southern University Conference.

A native of Atlanta, Dr. Shi is a 1973 graduate of Furman and earned his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in history at the University of Virginia. He joined the Furman administration in 1993 as vice president for academic affairs and dean after teaching history at Davidson College for 17 years.