Fry, Joseph A., 1947-

Dr. Joseph Fry was born West Virginia on May 21, 1947. He was the only child of an insurance salesman and a public school teacher. His parents met in Ronceverte, West Virginia, and lived for a while in his grandmother's boarding house. He had an idyllic childhood in this small town of 2500 people. After graduation, he was interested in playing college basketball and ended up at Davis and Elkins College in east central West Virginia. Undecided on a major at first, he tried math and then chemistry, but he found his niche when he began studying the history of western civilization. During his undergraduate years, Fry met his wife-to-be, Sandra Schwitzer, and they were married in 1969 in the summer after their senior year. He was accepted at graduate school in history at the University of Virginia, so he and his bride moved to Charlottesville. After that, he worked for 2 years at Virginia Tech. In 1975, he was offered a job at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), so he and his family packed up and moved to Las Vegas. He was welcomed to the history department by such notables as Roman "Jay" Zom, Ralph Roske, and Tom Wright. In addition to teaching, he has had the opportunity to do research, write four books, and edit a series of diplomatic biographies. Andy was department chair in the mid 1980s and again from 1999 to 2002. He also served for three years as executive assistant to Dr. Carol Harter (president of UNLV for 11 years), but prefers teaching over administrative work.