New Leadership

Delmarva Discussions is happy to have Dr. Samuel B. Hoff of Delaware State University as the new President of its Board of Directors. Jean DelSordo, Director of the Dorchester County Library in Cambridge, Maryland and the previous Board President for 6 years, stepped down this past Fall. She will continue on the Board as a member representing Maryland libraries.

Dr. Hoff is George Washington Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Department of History, Political Science, and Philosophy at Delaware State University. He has supported Delmarva Discussions since 1993 as a presenting scholar, where his specialty became titles dealing with presidential elections and the civil war. He was asked to join the Board in 2005.

A political scientist, Dr. Hoff earned his Ph.D. in 1987 from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He has held teaching positions at New York Institute of Technology, Ohio Wesleyan University, Wittenberg University, State University of New York--College at Geneseo, and Wichita State University. At DSU since 1989, he has earned annual Faculty Excellence Awards in Research (1992), Teaching (1996), and University and Community Service (2000).

In 1999, Dr. Hoff received an endowed distinguished professorship from the Delaware State Society of the Cincinnati, becoming the first full-time faculty member in DSU history to be so honored. Dr. Hoff is the recipient of several national fellowships, including a Military History Fellowship at West Point (1994), Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge (1994, 2003) National Security Law Fellowship from the University of Virginia Law School (1995), Nonproliferation Policy Education Center (1995), Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs (1997), and the Council for International Educational Exchange (2002, 2003). Additionally, Dr. Hoff has served in three staff positions with the U.S. Congress.

A specialist on the American presidency, Dr. Hoff is author of over 200 articles, chapters, and book reviews in scholarly journals, edited books, and local and regional newspapers.