Joseph D. Duffey

Joseph D. Duffey

Senior Vice President

Dr. Joseph Duffey joined Laureate (then Sylvan Learning Systems, Inc.) as senior vice president in 1999. He is responsible for education and academic quality and coordinates the development of Laureate International Universities network programs and partnerships worldwide.

Before joining Laureate, Dr. Duffey was director of the U.S. Information Agency, a position to which he was appointed by President Bill Clinton and for which he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 1993. He previously served as president of American University in Washington, D.C., and was chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst from 1982 to 1991, during which time he was also elected as president of the four-campus UMass system.

Dr. Duffey was assistant secretary of state for educational and cultural affairs and chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities under presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. He has also served as a member of the faculty at Yale University, as a fellow of the JFK School of Government at Harvard University, and as a U.S. delegate to the General Conferences of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Dr. Duffey is a graduate of Marshall University, and has received graduate degrees from Yale University, Andover Newton Theological School, and the Hartford Seminary Foundation. He holds 14 honorary degrees from American colleges and universities and in 1993 was awarded the honorary doctor of letters by Ritsemaken University in Japan. He has published widely on themes relating to higher education and social and economic issues.