Expect an innovative look at all aspects of campus if provost candidate David Rudd gets appointed to the position.
Rudd spoke to a full room Thursday, fielding questions from an audience mostly made up of department heads, deans, administrative officials and faculty. He is scheduled to speak at an open meeting again this morning at 9 in the FedEx Institute of Technology in room 203.
If what he said Thursday is any indication of how he'll answer questions today, attendees can expect Rudd to be on his toes and relate challenges faced by the University of Memphis to his experience at the University of Utah, where he serves as dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Science and a professor of psychology.
In the cover letter of his extensive 58-page resume, it says that Rudd's most notable accomplishment "is his movement of the college from over $1 million in debt to a net surplus of over $3 million during the nation's worst recession."
He boasted that that did not happen by firing faculty, but with redevelopment, by raising money, reducing tiny course offerings and other techniques.
The biggest challenge a new provost at the U of M will face, Rudd said, is relating to nontraditional and online students.
"We want alums to identify with the university so they will support the university later in many ways, not just money," Rudd said. That could be a challenge with students who take only online courses and never come to campus, but Rudd said the U of U has experimented with what have proven to be successful methods of interacting with and making a mark on online students.
Questions from the audience Thursday included how Rudd thought he could use his academic background in an administrative role, how his appointment to the position would affect students and how it would affect faculty.
"One thing I do and I think I would do here is implement a student advisory board," Rudd said. "I don't know how you serve the needs of students without talking to students."
Some examples of innovative thinking he could bring to the U of M are in areas of teaching methods, the use of traditional resources and even the construction of buildings.
The way everything is done is changing, he said, even if it will do so over the next decade. He talked about a campaign at the U of U that was successful in rebranding the university's library.
"Students are in there all the time now," he said, "but people don't go to do research anymore."
He spoke of a remodeling of one building at U of U and said that the need for space in classrooms is changing so, "Why build traditional classrooms that won't be used traditionally?"
U of U has invested in teaching innovation as well, and has done research in more effective teaching methods.
When it comes to making college more affordable, Rudd has spearheaded a national campaign that has doubled the amount of scholarship money available to students at the U of U, though he said that is still not enough.
"The biggest problem is students get a job to support their college education, but then can't focus on that education," Rudd said.
After his session today, attendees can fill out an evaluation form that will be taken into consideration when the provost selection committee chooses between Rudd and candidate Donald Siegel.
Siegel is the dean of the School of Business and a management professor at the University of Albany. He's scheduled to partake in an open session Monday from 2:20 to 3:30 p.m. in the University Center room 304 and Tuesday from 9 to 10 a.m. in room 203 of the FedEx Institute of Technology.
