Dr. Philo A. Hutcheson '73

2018 Recipient Distinguished Alumnus Award for Professional Achievement

Dr. Philo Hutcheson's success in higher education reflects the Carroll University educational experience. His commitment to lifelong learning, exploration of gateway experiences, and service to others is built on a career that started at his alma mater in the Admissions Department.

It was the beloved Admissions Dean Shirley Hilger '43 who recruited Dr. Hutcheson in 1973 to college administration at Carroll as an admissions counselor, where he served for two years before becoming assistant director of admissions from 1975 to 1976.

Dr. Hutcheson acknowledges Hilger in his foundational book, A Professional Professoriate (Vanderbilt University Press, 2000) for initiating his career in administration. Currently, Dr. Hutcheson is a full professor at the University of Alabama, Educational Leadership, Policy, and Technology Studies Department, having served there as department chair from 2012 to 2016 after 20 years as a professor at Georgia State University and nearly 20 years in college administration at Carroll University, Beloit College, and Hamline University.

In his 25-year career as an historian of higher education after earning his Ph.D., Dr. Hutcheson has been awarded the Georgia State University College of Education Teacher of the Year and selected to present at 84 national and international conferences. His conferences and workshops have touched audiences throughout the United States and abroad including Cambridge, United Kingdom; Birmingham, England; University of the West Indies, Jamaica; and Nanjing Normal University, China.

A consistent theme in Dr. Hutcheon's work has been his commitment to diversity. He is a national leader in graduating African American doctoral students (26 to date) among white colleagues in his field. He also convened the Council for Diversity Initiatives at the University of Alabama College of Education, co-authoring a grant to study “Blackness in the Academy: Understanding Academic Achievement Among College Students,” and written numerous articles, encyclopedia entries, and book chapters that address issues of race and gender in higher education.

He has mentored hundreds of students, including doctoral students for whom he has chaired 78 dissertation committees. He will be the lead instructor for the first-semester course on poverty for the University Fellows, undergraduate students from across the nation who were outstanding in secondary school but, more important, evidence a deep commitment to service.

Dr. Hutcheson began the scholarship for which he is now renowned at The University of Chicago, graduating with a Ph.D. in education in 1991. He has written one book, 15 book chapters (all by invitation, including two forthcoming), 17 articles, 15 book reviews, and 16 encyclopedia entries. He is currently in the process of completing two definitive books, A People's History of United States Higher Education and Justice in the Democracy: The Impact of the President's Commission on Higher Education, 1947 to 1972.

Additionally, Dr. Hutcheson has been selected as an editorial board member for: The Review of Higher Education, 2007-2012; The History of Education Quarterly, 2006-2012; The Journal of the Professoriate, 2005-2010; Perspectives in Higher Education, 2003-2012; The Journal of Rehabilitation, 2000-2002, and; The Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 2011-present.

Dr. Hutcheson was elected president of the History of Education Society (2009-2011) and has served in various other capacities in this scholarly society including the Development Committee (2016), chair, ad hoc committee for the triennial review of the History of Education Quarterly (2008), and Nominating Committee (2006). He has also been a member of the American Educational Research Association where he has been a member of Divisions F (History) and J (Postsecondary Education), served on the Annual Meeting Policies and Procedures Committee (2006-2009), and chaired the Division F Program Committee (2005-2006). Dr. Hutcheson is also a member of the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE) for which he chaired the Ad Hoc Committee on ASHE History (2003-2011), and served as Organization and Administration Papers Vice-Chair (2004), and Research and Scholarly Papers Co-Chair (2001-2002). He has also engaged in notable service to his community, even being selected nine times to be a caller at the Georgia Association of Educators State Spelling Bee.

Dr. Hutcheson graduated in 1973 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and English. He resides in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.