Chris Royster, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. candidate
Academic Dean

Chris Royster is a native of the North Carolina Mountains. He earned his bachelor’s degree in history and political science from Mars Hill College, located near Asheville, NC. During his junior year he served as a congressional intern in Washington, D.C. He holds a master’s degree in American history, and he is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Educational Leadership program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Before pursuing a career in education, Mr. Royster worked as an assistant registrar at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh, where he helped to create such exhibits as the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame. Since 1996 Mr. Royster has served Oak Ridge as a history teacher, assistant athletic director, and now as the Academic Dean. As a teacher he taught U.S. History, Western Civilization, and a college-level U.S. History survey course offered through the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He has been the co-leader of two cadet group trips to Europe, and he was the Chair of the History Department from 1997 to 2005. From 2004 to 2005 he was the Chair of ORMA’s successful reaccreditation effort for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). He was promoted to the position of Academic Dean in July 2005. His wife is a third-grade teacher in the North Carolina public schools. In his free time Mr. Royster enjoys socializing with friends and family, reading political and military history and biography, and visiting the mountains and beaches of the Carolinas.