Provost plans to connect schools

Steve Allred is scarcely two months into his tenure as the University of Richmond's provost, but already the gearwheels of his academic plans are being set in motion, from his proposal for increased cross-school collaboration to his initiative to hire a more diverse faculty and enhance its development.

It is these three points that will tentatively form the cornerstone of the school's academic trajectory for the next few years. Allred will be the one developing and leading the charge.

"You've got these five schools," Allred said. "They can either be separate entities or they can work together. My challenge is to do the latter."

Allred addressed the faculty and staff collectively for the first time on Aug. 20 at a colloquy signaling the start of a new academic year.

"What if we were to commit to our first year students that in their four years here," he said in the address, "they would be guaranteed to take courses in Jepson, Robins, or the Law School, sometimes with students from SCS, or sometimes team taught by faculty from different schools? Wouldn't that enhance and differentiate their experience?"

Allred also announced the creation of the "Provost's Opportunity Hiring Initiative" to increase the diversity of the university's faculty, a move that aligns with the strategic plan goal of increasing general diversity at the school. Minority faculty comprise 9 percent of the tenured and tenure-track ranks, Allred said.

Allred did not set any quotas or goals for increasing the faculty of color.

Allred, in his address, also mentioned the possibility of establishing problem-based courses with service learning components, a way that would address the university administration's goal of strengthening its relations with the city.

Allred hails from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he joined in 1986 as a faculty member after spending eight years in Washington, D.C. as a lawyer. He served as director of UNC's graduate program in public administration from 1995 to 2001 before moving into administration, where he worked as an associate provost and then executive associate provost from 2004 until 2008.

"He seemed to understand the benefits of an undergraduate education even though he came from UNC-Chapel Hill -- which is a big school," said Michelle Hamm, associate professor of chemistry and a member of the committee that recommended Allred for hire. "He still really seemed to understand what it meant to be an undergraduate institution."

Contact staff writer Dan Petty at dan.petty@richmond.edu