Dr. Daniel S. Papp became the third president of Kennesaw State University July 1, 2006. Prior to being named president by the Board of Regents, Papp served as senior vice chancellor for academics and fiscal affairs of the University System of Georgia. Senior vice chancellor since 2000, Papp was responsible for system-wide academic, faculty and student issues and concerns; business and financial affairs; academic and business information-technology systems; and strategic planning affecting all of the university system’s 35 institutions. Before becoming senior vice chancellor, Papp directed educational programs for Yamacraw, Georgia’s initiative to become the global leader in broadband technologies and components. Papp served as interim president of Southern Polytechnic State University from 1997 to 1998 and as executive assistant to the president at Georgia Tech from 1994 to 1997.

An international affairs expert, Papp was the founding director of Georgia Tech’s Sam Nunn School of International Affairs from 1990 to 1993 and director of the Georgia Tech School of Social Sciences from 1980 to 1990. He joined Georgia Tech’s faculty in 1973 as an assistant professor of international affairs. While at Tech, Papp was also visiting professor at the Western Australia Institute of Technology; research professor at the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College; senior research professor at the Center for Aerospace Doctrine, Research and Education of the U.S. Air War College; and visiting professor at Fudan University in Shanghai. In 1993, Papp was selected Georgia Tech’s “Distinguished Professor,” the first time the honor was awarded to someone other than an engineer or physical scientist. He has twice been awarded the U.S. Department of the Army’s “Outstanding Civilian Service” medal.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Dartmouth College, Papp received his doctorate in international affairs from the University of Miami. His academic specialties include international security policy, U.S. and Russian foreign and defense policies, and international system change. He is the author or editor of 10 books on these topics, including the biography of former U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk. He also has published more than 60 journal articles and chapters in edited books.

The U.S. Department of the Army, the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Information Agency, the U.S. Institute of Peace, the U.S. Department of Education, NATO, and other organizations have funded Papp’s research. He has traveled widely in the former USSR, China, Europe, Southeast Asia, Latin America and Africa. He has held a Sloan Scholarship and a National Defense Education Act Fellowship.

Papp is past chairperson of the American-Soviet Relations and Southern Sections of the International Studies Association, senior fellow for international security at the Southern Center for International Studies, and a member of the Society of International Business Fellows.

Papp is married to Susan Lord Papp. He has two sons, William and Alexander; two stepsons, Michael and Benjamin; and a granddaughter, Elena. He has served on the Church Council of the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection in Marietta, Georgia, and coached youth basketball and football. He is a past captain of the Miami, the Atlanta, and the Georgia Tech Rugby Football Clubs. He has also been a participant in several Friendship Force home-stay programs in Russia.