Ed Schrader

Who is Ed Schrader?

Dr. Ed Schrader is President of Brenau University. He is the university's ninth president and has directed the Gainesville, GA, school since January 2005. Brenau has experienced unprecedented growth in enrollment and academic quality under Dr. Schrader's leadership and has assumed a role of leadeship in Liberal Arts Education in the Southern states. Prior to heading Brenau, Dr. Schrader was President of Shorter College in Rome, Georgia, for four years. Under Schrader's leadership, Shorter was ranked by the U.S. News & World Report as one of the Top 20 Best Southern Comprehensive Colleges for four consecutive years. Dr. Schrader holds a Ph.D. in geochemistry from Duke University. He previously served on the Duke University Board of Advisors, is an extensively published geochemical researcher, and held academic and administrative positions at the University of Alabama and Millsaps College. He served as Dean of Sciences at Millsaps and is a founding director of Kaxil Kiuic, an environmental and archaeological preserve in the Yucatán, Mexico.

The hallmark of Dr. Schrader's tenure at Shorter College was a sincere effort to protect the 125-year heritage of academic freedom in a Christian institution. In response to threatened sanctions by the college's accreditation agency—the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools--due to infringement on the independence of the college's board of trustees by a related religious organization, the Board of Trustees voted to preserve its academic freedom and oppose undue influence from external powers in a legal dispute. The college grew in both enrollment and academic recognition under Dr. Schrader's leadership even under the contentious circumstances with fundamentalist/conservative religious state powers. Dr. Schrader founded the college's intercollegiate soccer, softball, and football programs netting an enrollment increase of over 200 student-athletes and enhancing community and alumni involvement.