Already a consummate civic servant, professor, and local pastor, Edward Scott will soon add the responsibilities of interim dean of Mary Baldwin University to his repertoire. Scott, in his 16th year of service at Mary Baldwin, will officially assume the post July 1, while a committee conducts a national search for a permanent replacement for outgoing dean of the college and vice president for academic affairs Jeffrey L. Buller.
Scott was named assistant dean of the college in 2005. As he did then, he will also continue to serve the college as associate professor of philosophy, although his course load will be significantly reduced, Scott said.
“I want to provoke students into a sense of discovery. Discovery of the world is intimately related to self-discovery,” he said in a recent interview.
Scott is active in the local community. He serves as pastor at Allen Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Staunton and on the city’s school board. He is involved in community events, including the annual Martin Luther King Day march, historic preservation at Fairview Cemetery, and service on the board of trustees of the American Shakespeare Center.
Scott earned his bachelor’s degree at Slippery Rock State College in Pennsylvania, and his master’s and Ph.D. at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. Prior to coming to Mary Baldwin in 1990, Scott taught at Monmouth College, a small liberal arts college in Illinois.