Dr. Robert Clougherty was appointed dean of the Center for Graduate Programs in May, 2007. Dr. Clougherty brings to the college a broad interdisciplinary background in the humanities and learning technologies and the creative energy to lead graduate program development.

Prior to his appointment he was the founding director of the Institute for Technological Scholarship, and served as the director of the Tennessee Advanced Computing Technologies Institute, and the director of the Web Design Program at Tennessee Tech University. In addition since 1994, he had been on the Tennessee Tech University faculty in English and served as chair of the graduate program for several years and was promoted to full professor in 2002.

Dr. Clougherty served as a Fulbright Scholar in Uppsala, Sweden, is nationally recognized for his work in e-learning and web applications, and has published and presented widely in this area as well as in literature (e.g., Irish poets). His published writings, including original poetry, have been translated into several languages.

Dr. Clougherty holds a B.A. from Villanova University, the M.A. in English from Texas Women's University and a Ph.D. in modern letters from the University of Tulsa.