Elizabeth Kiss (born 1961) is an American philosopher and academic administrator, specialising in

moral A moral (from Latin ''morālis'') is a message that is conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader, or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim. A ...

and

political philosophy Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, l ...

. Since 2018, she has been the Warden of

Rhodes House Rhodes House is a building part of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on South Parks Road in central Oxford, and was built in memory of Cecil Rhodes, an alumnus of the university and a major benefactor. It is listed Grade II* on ...

, Oxford University, and CEO of the Rhodes Trust. She is responsible for administering the

Rhodes Scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

, providing pastoral support to existing Rhodes Scholars and coordinating the Rhodes Trust. She is the first woman to hold this role. Previously she served as president of

Agnes Scott College Agnes Scott College is a private women's liberal arts college in Decatur, Georgia. The college enrolls approximately 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The college is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church and is considered one of the ...

Early life and education

Kiss's parents along with her two older siblings emigrated from Hungary to the United States in 1956 following the Hungarian Revolution. Kiss was born in New York City and gained her undergraduate degree in 1983 from

Davidson College Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after Revolutionary War general William Lee Davidson, who was killed at the nearby Battle of Cowan� ...

in North Carolina, where she graduated

Omicron Delta Kappa Omicron Delta Kappa (), also known as The Circle and ODK, is one of the most prestigious honor societies in the United States with chapters at more than 300 college campuses. It was founded December 3, 1914, at Washington and Lee University in ...

. She was elected a

Rhodes Scholar The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

in 1983, studied at

Balliol College Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

and received a

D.Phil. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

in 1990. Speaking about her childhood in a 2018 interview for ''Times Higher Education'' she said, "Being the 'American kid' in a family of refugees and political prisoners (my father was imprisoned in Hungary by both the Nazi and communist regimes) and growing up bilingual in a multicultural neighbourhood gave me experience from an early age of straddling different worlds." In the same interview she claims it was her two older siblings' taste in 1960s music and political activism that sparked her interest in ethics, politics, and human rights. Kiss became involved with student activism during her time at Davidson College, setting up the college's Amnesty International chapter and becoming the first female Davidson student to win a Rhodes Scholarship.

Career

Much of Kiss's research has focused on

and

moral education Character education is an umbrella term loosely used to describe the teaching of children and adults in a manner that will help them develop variously as moral, civic, good, mannered, behaved, non-bullying, healthy, critical, successful, traditiona ...

which she believes is essential to personal and professional development. From 1997 to 2006, Kiss was the founding director of the

Kenan Institute for Ethics The Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University is an interdisciplinary "think and do" tank committed to understanding and addressing real-world ethical challenges facing individuals, organizations and societies worldwide. The Institute promote ...

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

. She served as the eighth President of

Decatur, Georgia Decatur is a city in, and the county seat of, DeKalb County, Georgia, which is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. With a population of 24,928 in the 2020 census, the municipality is sometimes assumed to be larger since multiple ZIP Codes in ...

from 2006 to 2018. In 2015, she devised the SUMMIT curriculum at the college, which aims to provide students with a core curriculum where

leadership development Leadership development is the process which helps expand the capacity of individuals to perform in leadership roles within organizations. Leadership roles are those that facilitate execution of an organization's strategy through building alignment ...

and global learning are the focuses. As college president, she changed the institution's demographic to include one-third African-American students. She presided over the college during its multi-year, aggressive legal battle to deny remedy to Amanda Hartley who had been falsely accused of assault by a current Agnes Scott student. Even though Hartley proved she was in Tennessee at the time, the college police had her extradited and arrested. She spent weeks in Dekalb County jail where she said she was beaten and subject to cavity searches. Hartley lost her scholarship and standing in her Masters program in Tennessee due to the false imprisonment and harm caused by Agnes Scott employees, namely the campus police, under the leadership of Kiss. The case caused some to question Agnes Scott's true committment to uplifing women, particularly under the leadership of Kiss

After repeated appeals and protestations by the college in a protracted fight all the way to the Georgia Supreme Court, the college finally settled with Amanda Hartley in 2020, but as noted by her attorney, Lloyd Bell, only after the college leadership changed: "There has been a change of leadership at Agnes Scott, so there’s a possibility that that might impact the decision," said Bell. "The value of the case and the harm Agnes Scott caused my client has not diminished." (Yahoo News, Law.com, April 15, 2019)

Unlike Kiss, New college president Leocadia “Lee” Zak has been lauded locally for supporting the young women Agnes Scott college proports to serve. In August 2018, Kiss began her tenure as Warden of

at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, home of the

, and CEO of the

Rhodes Trust Rhodes House is a building part of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on South Parks Road in central Oxford, and was built in memory of Cecil Rhodes, an alumnus of the university and a major benefactor. It is listed Grade II* ...

. She is the first woman to hold these positions.

Select honours and awards

* Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District III Chief Executive Leadership Award, 2018. * Named one of the Eight Most Influential People in US Higher Education by the Chronicle of Higher Education, 2017. * The American Council on Education Award for Institutional Transformation (for Agnes Scott College), 2017. * Turknett Leadership Character Award for Higher Education, 2007.

References

External links

Biography
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Elizabeth Kiss ' 83 Named Eighth President of Agnes Scott College
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Duke's Elizabeth Kiss to Head to Agnes Scott
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Elizabeth Kiss Elected Eighth President of Agnes Scott
' - collegenews.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Kiss, Elizabeth Heads of universities and colleges in the United States American Rhodes Scholars Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Davidson College alumni Duke University faculty Fellows of Balliol College, Oxford Agnes Scott College Randolph–Macon College faculty Princeton University faculty Deep Springs College faculty Harvard University staff 1961 births Living people Political philosophers 20th-century American philosophers American women philosophers American women political scientists American political scientists Women heads of universities and colleges 20th-century American women 21st-century American women