About the Dean

Dr. Paul Woodruff, inaugural dean of the School of Undergraduate Studies, began teaching at The University of Texas at Austin in 1973 with a specialty in ancient Greek philosophy. After three years as chair of the Department of Philosophy, he became director of the Plan II honors program in 1991, and went on to serve on President Powers’s Task Force on Curricular Reform in 2004-05.

Dean Woodruff is the Darrell K. Royal Professor in Ethics and American Society, and held the Hayden Head Regents Chair as director of Plan II. He won the 1986 Harry Ransom Teaching Award, and was inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Teachers in 1997.

Woodruff has written a number of definitive translations from ancient Greek, including works by Plato, Sophocles, and Thucydides. He has written several books that interpret classical philosophy for political, business, or personal situations in contemporary lives. Recent publications include The Necessity of Theater: The Art of Watching and Being Watched (2008), First Democracy: The Challenge of an Ancient Idea (2005), and Reverence: Renewing a Forgotten Virtue (2001). An upcoming publication, The Ajax Dilemma, uses a parable from classical Greece to provide a moral compass for a very contemporary dilemma: how to distribute rewards and public recognition without damaging the social fabric.

Watch Dr. Woodruff interviewed by Bill Moyers about Reverence: Renewing a Forgotten Virtue.

Degrees

1965: A.B. in Classics, Princeton University
1968: B.A. in Literae Humaniores, Oxford University, Merton College
1973: Ph.D. in Philosophy, Princeton University

Administrative Appointments

1976-78, 1979-81: Assistant Chairman, Department of Philosophy
1987-88: Graduate Advisor, Department of Philosophy
1988-1991: Chairman, Department of Philosophy
1991-2006: Director, Plan II Honors Program
2006-present: Dean of Undergraduate Studies