Mark Hanshaw is Associate Provost and General Counsel for Cumberland University. Hanshaw has a broad background in serving and supporting higher education institutions. Hanshaw possesses a background in both law and higher education administration. Previously, Dr. Hanshaw served on the Higher Education Team at the national law firm of Steptoe & Johnson.  He additionally led the network of Methodist higher education institutions located across the U.S.

Hanshaw served as the Dean of the School of Arts & Letters at Texas Wesleyan University, in Fort Worth, and has been a part of the teaching faculties of several institutions. As a part of his work within the higher education arena, Hanshaw has led in the establishment of both domestic and global collaborative academic programs and has guided efforts aimed at both program expansion and retention. While at Texas Wesleyan, he led both campus internationalization efforts and online program expansion.

Hanshaw holds a Ph.D. from Southern Methodist University, with emphasis in Comparative Ethics.  He also holds a J.D. from the University of Tennessee College of Law and Master’s degrees from the University of Manchester, in the U.K., and Texas Christian University.  He is the author of the text From East to West: A Comparative Study of the World’s Great Religions, as well as a variety of other texts and academic articles.

He was the recipient of the Texas Wesleyan Board of Trustees Award for Scholarship, in addition to other teaching and research awards.  He is a former Rotary International Fellow, having studied at the University of Manchester, and Fulbright-Hays Scholar, having conducted research in India. He has led numerous student travel-study programs, predominantly in South Asia, and was selected to lead an international peace delegation in India, funded by the Rotary International Foundation.

Hanshaw has traveled widely, having visited or lived in more than 80 countries around the globe.   He has led study abroad programs in India, Nepal, Guatemala, Cambodia, Thailand, Turkey and Greece.  In addition to his scholarly interests, he is a runner, an amateur photographer and, most importantly, a dad to both human and K-9 “kids.” He is married and lives in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee.