David Spadafora is a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

historian. He is the 8th President of the Newberry Library in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, and a professor at

Lake Forest College Lake Forest College is a private liberal arts college in Lake Forest, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Lind University by a group of Presbyterian ministers, the college has been coeducational since 1876 and an undergraduate-focused liberal arts i ...

. He served as president of Lake Forest College from 1993 to 2001.

Biography

Spadafora is an alumnus of

Williams College Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kill ...

(B.A., 1972), and

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

(Ph.D., 1981). He was born in Hamilton, Ohio in 1951, the son of Sam C. and Dorothy H. Spadafora. He grew up in Hamilton, attending high school at Cincinnati Country Day School in

Indian Hill, Ohio The Village of Indian Hill is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and an affluent suburb of the Greater Cincinnati area. The population was 5,785 at the 2010 census. Prior to 1970, Indian Hill was incorporated as a village, but under ...

. Before finishing his Ph.D., Spadafora taught history at

Bard College at Simon's Rock Bard College at Simon's Rock (more commonly known as Simon's Rock) is a private residential liberal arts college in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. It is a unit of Bard College, which is located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The school ...

(then known as Simon's Rock Early College) in 1977-78 and at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

West Hartford West Hartford is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, west of downtown Hartford. The population was 64,083 at the 2020 census. The town's popular downtown area is colloquially known as "West Hartford Center," or simply "The ...

campus from 1978 to 1980. He was a research analyst for the

Connecticut General Assembly The Connecticut General Assembly (CGA) is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is a bicameral body composed of the 151-member House of Representatives and the 36-member Senate. It meets in the state capital, Hartford. Th ...

in 1980–81. Thereafter, Spadafora returned to

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

, as a residential college dean and lecturer in the history department. He was acting dean of

Morse College Morse College is one of the fourteen residential colleges at Yale University, built in 1961 and designed by Eero Saarinen. It is adjacent to Ezra Stiles College and the two colleges share many facilities. The current Head of College is Catherine ...

(1982) and dean of

Calhoun College John C. Calhoun (1782–1850) was the 7th vice president of the United States. Calhoun can also refer to: Surname * Calhoun (surname) Inhabited places in the United States *Calhoun, Georgia * Calhoun, Illinois *Calhoun, Kansas *Calhoun, Kentucky ...

(1982–85), and then became associate dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (1985–90). His book, ''The Idea of Progress in Eighteenth-Century Britain'', was published by Yale University Press in 1990,''Who's Who in America''. Marquis Who's Who, Chicago. . and was included in the Outstanding Academic Books List by ''Choice'', a publication of the Association of college and Research Libraries. Spadafora has served as a professor of history at

since 1990. He served as the dean of faculty from 1990 to 1993. Spadafora then served as the 12th president of the college from 1993 to 2001. In the fall of 2001, Spadafora received a one-year teaching and research fellowship at the Newberry Library from the Associated Colleges of the Midwest (ACM). During that time, Spadafora directed the ACM Newberry humanities seminar, which involved instructing visiting students from ACM colleges. Spadafora assumed the presidency of the Newberry Library in October 2005. Spadafora's scholarly interests concern the history of Western thought. He is currently studying the tension between secularism and the Christian religion and the Christian church, with a special focus on eighteenth-century Britain.

References

External links

Biography at Newberry Library

Biography at Lake Forest College
Heads of universities and colleges in the United States American people of Italian descent Williams College alumni Yale University alumni Living people Lake Forest College faculty People of Calabrian descent Year of birth missing (living people) Bard College at Simon's Rock faculty {{US-historian-stub