Kaplan, Lawrence S.

Lawrence W. Kaplan was appointed judge to the Family Division of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County in 1978. The following year, Kaplan was elected to retain the position. Early in his career, Kaplan became an advocate for mediation, a process through which contesting parties negotiate a settlement outside of the courtroom. He founded the Mediation Council of Western Pennsylvania and serves as the organization's president emeritus. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Academy of Family Mediators from 1982 to 1987 and was a member of the editorial board of The Mediation Quarterly.

Dr. Lawrence S. Kaplan is a world-renowned historian, specializing in American diplomatic history, American politico-military history, and the history of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). He received his undergraduate degree at Colby College, and went on to get his master's degree and doctorate at Yale University. Prior to coming to Kent State University, he was a lecturer in American history at the University of Bridgeport, Connecticut and a historian for the Department of Defense. Dr. Kaplan began his career at Kent State University in 1954 as an instructor of history. Kaplan was named a University professor in 1977 and in 1979 was named the director of the University's Lyman L. Lemnitzer Center for NATO Studies at Kent State University. After his retirement from Kent State University in 1993, he remained director emeritus of the Lemnitzer Center.

He was also selected to be a Fulbright lecturer three times: teaching American history at the University of Bonn from 1959-1960; at the University of Louvain from 1964-1965; and lecturing on political science at the University of Nice during the summer of 1965. In addition, he served as a visiting professor at the European University Institute in Florence and was a visiting research scholar at the University of London. While at Kent, Kaplan received numerous awards including the Alumni Association's Distinguished Teaching Award in 1967 and the President's Medal in 1986. He also received the Distinguished Service Award and the Outstanding Teaching Award for the Ohio Academy of History. Kaplan also served as a consultant for the Historian's Office of the Defense Department and for the National Archives. He is also the author of numerous articles and books dealing with American diplomacy and American history. A member of various professional organizations, including SHEAR (Society for Historians of the Early American Revolution) and SHAFR (Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations), Kaplan has served as president of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations and the Kent State chapter of the American Association of University Professors.

Kaplan currently teaches as a Professorial Lecturer in the Department of History at Georgetown University.