Biography

Bruce Shepard, President
Western Washington University

Bruce Shepard began service as the 13th President of Western Washington University on September 1, 2008.

Bruce Shepard formerly served as chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay from November 2001 through June 2008. From 1995-2001, Shepard served as provost at Eastern Oregon University, where he was also a professor of political science. Prior to joining EOU, Shepard spent 23 years at Oregon State University, earning tenure as a faculty member in the Department of Political Science before moving into university administration. His administrative positions at Oregon State included state government liaison specialist, special assistant to the provost, assistant vice president for undergraduate studies and director of undergraduate academic programs.

Shepard has served as a visiting scientist at the Population Study Center in Seattle; policy analyst for the USDA Forest Service; and visiting fellow in the School of Communication and Liberal Studies at the Mitchell College of Advanced Education in Bathurst, Australia.

Shepard's academic background includes bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in political science from the University of California, Riverside. His scholarship and teaching focuses on American government, public policy and policy analysis, research methods, and environmental and natural resource politics and policy. He has published widely and is active in numerous professional and community organizations locally and nationally. He had experience as a collegiate student athlete, competing in crew at the NCAA Division I level in the University of California system.

A native of California, Shepard is an avid sailor who is married to Cyndie, who served as Director of UWGB's Phuture Phoenix Program and is an active advocate for improving the pipeline for students coming to higher education.