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University Of Houston-Victoria
President's Office
Philip D. Castille
Philip Dubuisson Castille was born and raised in south Louisiana. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Tulane University with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and English. He earned his master’s degree in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His Ph.D. is in English from Tulane.
Dr. Castille’s first academic appointments were at Tulane and the University of Memphis. For 13 years he was a member of the University of Houston Downtown (UHD) faculty, where he served in numerous positions in shared governance and won the UHD Teaching Award. As UHD was only seven years old when Dr. Castille arrived, he was deeply involved in developing new academic programs. He took an active part in shaping this young institution as it doubled in size and broadened its curricula during his years there.
Southern literature, film, and culture have been the focus of Dr. Castille’s scholarship. His work on William Faulkner, Robert Penn Warren, and other authors has appeared in numerous books and journals that focus on the modern south. Since 1995 he has been a member of the St. George Tucker Society, which is by invitation only. Based at Emory University, it includes leading scholars in Southern Studies. He has been a tenured full professor at four universities.
Dr. Castille’s administrative experience includes serving as Head of the English Department at Louisiana Tech University and Founding Director of the School of Literature and Language; Founding Dean of the College of Arts and Letters at Eastern Washington University; and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (VCAA) at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
As VCAA at UH Hilo, Dr. Castille led efforts in accreditation, student success, academic planning, and new program development. Until 2007 Hawaii was one of only three states without a college of pharmacy. Among his accomplishments was approval of doctoral, master’s, and bachelor’s degrees for the new pharmacy college. He has been commended for his efforts by United States Senator Daniel Inouye, who spearheaded the pharmacy initiative. He also was appointed by the former Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle to serve on the Hawaii Island Workforce Investment Board to improve workforce quality.
Dr. Castille has extensive experience in community building, fundraising, and consulting. He served as President of the Phi Beta Kappa Alumni Association of Greater Houston and worked with the local donor community to fund scholarships for top graduates of nearly 60 Houston-area high schools, public and private, a drive which set national records at the time. He will be working with the Victoria and Houston communities to expand scholarship funding at UHV to attract more top area students.
He is married to Shannon Amidon Castille, and they are the parents of Edward (Ned) and Philip Castille.
