Office of the President

Dr. Joel D. Shrock is the 19th President of Graceland University. He served as the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty at Graceland University for two years and Interim President for a short period until the Graceland Board of Trustees unanimously voted to appoint him to lead the University forward into a new era.

Shrock brings three decades of higher education experience to Graceland. He served as Provost and Dean of the School of Humanities and Behavioral Science at Anderson University, Indiana. In 2017, he was chosen for and completed the Council for Independent College’s Senior Leadership Academy. Shrock was a full-time faculty member for 17 years and holds the rank of Emeriti Professor of History from Anderson University.

Shrock joined Graceland’s administration in 2022 as the Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty, choosing Graceland because of its diversity and the values that match his own.

“This university is a bulwark against ignorance, isolationism, jingoism, and parochialism,” Shrock said when announced as President. “Graceland promotes knowledge and understanding, the interconnectedness of humanity, and broad-mindedness. It asks us, ‘What do we owe our neighbors? How can we support each other?’ It is not about narrow self-interest.”

Shrock is an avid music lover, specifically punk rock bands like The Clash, the Sex Pistols, Bad Religion, Green Day, and the Dead Kennedys. “Punk rock screams out against conformity. It challenges convention and the status quo. It is dissent, dissatisfaction, and debate.” His love of punk rock lends itself to his philosophy for higher education: a belief that universities need to challenge ideas and embrace dissatisfaction, dissent, and debate by teaching students how to engage with people whom they disagree with.

Shrock earned his PhD in 1996 from Miami University in United States History with fields in cultural, gender, and world history. In 2009, he earned a position in the Malone Fellows Program to study Middle Eastern culture, politics, and history in Oman and the United Arab Emirates. He has published various articles and the book  The Gilded Age: American Popular Culture Through History on the evolution of American culture near the end of the 20th century, which marked the beginnings of modern America.

Beyond the Graceland University campuses, Shrock has worked on two Teaching American History Grant Projects, served as a past president of the Indiana Association of Historians, and is a peer reviewer for the Higher Learning Commission.

Shrock was born and grew up outside of Albion, Ind., near Skinner Lake. He spent many days helping out on his grandparents’ farm, and his connection to nature carries over to his hobbies: he enjoys canoeing, hiking and fishing, but also sitting down with a good book or movie. He and his wife, Kelly Kirby Shrock, have three sons – Owen, JD, and Brenton – and a canine companion named Pongo.