higher education – Memphis Flyer

University of Memphis

U of M President M. David Rudd

The University of Memphis has announced that President M. David Rudd will be leaving his position in May 2022. He plans to transition to faculty in 2023 for research and teaching. Here’s the official announcement from the U of M:

Dr. M. David Rudd, the 12th president of the University of Memphis, will be leaving his position in May 2022. He will transition to faculty in 2023 to continue his research, after a year sabbatical abroad.

“We are deeply grateful for the tireless service and dedicated leadership President Rudd has given to the University of Memphis, the City of Memphis, the UofM Lambuth campus and all of West Tennessee,” said Doug Edwards, chair of the University of Memphis Board of Trustees. “His innovative efforts have advanced the University educationally and financially, positioning the UofM to compete at the highest levels nationally. The UofM will continue its commitment to research and attaining Carnegie 1 status; development of a diverse and inclusive campus community within faculty, staff and student populations; a comprehensive, successful athletic program; and fiscal responsibility.”

The Board of Trustees will have a special-called meeting today at noon to discuss the presidential search process which may include the search committee composition and the use of an executive search firm. Additional information on the meeting can be found at https://www.memphis.edu/bot/meetings/. The successful candidate will be named before May 2022; therefore no interim will be appointed.

Rudd is completing his seventh year as President of the University of Memphis, a position he has held since May 2014. He came to the UofM the previous year and held the position of Provost. As a Distinguished University Professor of Psychology, he also continues funded research and maintains his affiliation with the National Center for Veterans Studies at the University of Utah as co-founder and scientific director.

Student success, research growth and community partnerships have been critical goals during his tenure in Memphis, with record-breaking improvements in student retention and graduation rates coupled with significant growth in research expenditures, along with community partnerships to support students. He spearheaded efforts to create a new division of Student Success; developed the University’s first integrated enrollment, retention and graduation plan; created a one-stop admissions center; launched UofM Global, developed targeted degree pathways for all majors; implemented an Academic Coaching for Excellence initiative; and offered need-based funding for the first time in UofM history.

Efforts to grow community partnerships and engagement have been successful during his tenure. Initiatives include corporate partnerships with UofM Global and FedEx (LiFE: Learning inspired by FedEx), Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare (MAAP) and the City of Memphis (COMPETE and RISE). These unique programs allow employees to overcome academic and financial barriers to receive their degrees. Additionally, the UMRF Research Park and the launching of UMRF Ventures, a private company held by the UofM Research Foundation, has led to many new partnerships with companies. Ventures hosts several FedEx Call Centers, a data analytic center and an IT Command Center. It employs more than 450 students and gross revenue approached $5.3 million in only its third year. Other innovative partnerships include the City of Memphis, Tennis Memphis and the UofM Leftwich Tennis Center expansion and the Memphis Symphony Orchestra in Residence at the UofM, which offers a series of world-class symphonic music on campus.

A total of more than $660 million in new University resources has been generated over the last seven years, including $260 million in fundraising, $55 million in new maintenance funds, $249 million in new capital investment and improvements and operational increases of more than $100 million. From an operational perspective, the UofM currently contributes nearly $1.1 billion in economic activity annually, supports nearly $500 million in wages and salary payments for local workers and is directly or indirectly responsible for roughly 9,900 Memphis-area jobs.

More than $500 million is being invested on campus and in the University Neighborhood District, with more than $140 million in private funds. Under Rudd’s leadership, the campus has been enhanced significantly while expanding rapidly. The Laurie-Walton Family Basketball Center and the Indoor Football Practice Facility have provided Tiger Athletics with two of the top facilities in the country. The Hunter Harrison Memorial Pedestrian Cable Bridge, parking garage, plaza and Alumni Mall Amphitheater have greatly improved the campus both functionally and aesthetically. Further, the forthcoming Scheidt Family Music Center, R. Brad Martin Student Wellness Center and Plaza, and Mike Rose Natatorium will provide students with state-of-the-art facilities to further support their growth. A new STEM building is currently in the planning phase and was funded this past year by the Tennessee legislature and set to break ground in 2022.

Rudd has a bachelor’s degree from Princeton and master’s and PhD degrees in psychology from the University of Texas.

The University of Memphis Board of Trustees extends their sincere gratitude to President M. David Rudd for his exemplary leadership and his varied and lengthy list of extraordinary accomplishments.

Rudd also shared a personal message to the UoM campus on his Twitter page.

Sen. Kerry Roberts

The Tennessee lawmaker who said higher education is a “liberal breeding ground” and should be eliminated last week is now saying his comments were made in jest.

Sen. Kerry Roberts (R-Springfield) said on his weekly radio talk show, “The Kerry Roberts Show,” last week that getting rid of higher education would “save America.”

Roberts’ comments came as he was detailing the events of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing last month on legislation that would essentially ban abortion outright in Tennessee.

During his show, the lawmaker made targeted comments about Cherisse Scott, founder and CEO of SisterReach, an organization meant to help women and girls of color, women living in low-income and rural areas, and the LBGTQ community obtain reproductive justice.

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Scott, a pro-choice advocate, testified at the Senate’s hearing last month, opposing the proposed legislation. But, Scott was cut off by the chairman of the committee, Senator Mike Bell (R-Riceville), halfway into her allotted 10 minutes.

Cherisse Scott

Roberts said when Scott was called to testify, everything was “upended” and “hijacked by someone who wanted to make their liberal political point that didn’t have anything to do with the rule of law. “

He said the committee was “tired of people lecturing us from the left from their lofty throne room chairs of their pious church distorting the message of the gospel.”

“Pick every bit of liberal indoctrination that you can get in a university setting today,” Roberts said. “You’ve got all of these intersectionalities, and white supremacy, and oppressive this and that. Every buzzword in the liberal lexicon is being thrown at us by some woman who’s not even talking about the legal argument. She’s just going off on something and she’s some minister for Jesus Christ in the inner city….And she’s just getting louder and louder and louder.”

Roberts called Scott’s testimony a “diatribe on social justice. I don’t even know what to call it. It was ridiculous.”

“You know what the sad thing about it is?” Roberts continued. “There are people who are sitting here applauding her and cheering her on.”

Roberts then attributes Scott’s and others’ stances to higher education.

“If there’s one thing we can do to save America today, it is to get rid of our institutions of higher education right now and cut the liberal breeding ground off,” Roberts said. “Good grief. The stupid stuff our kids are being taught is absolutely ridiculous. This is a woman who’s a product of higher education and she’s learned all of this stuff that flies in the face of what we stand for as a country. And here we are as legislators, paying for this garbage to be taught to our children.”

The “price that we pay” for higher education, Roberts added, is the “murder of over half a million innocent lives every year with people sitting there justifying it to their last breath.”

According to his Senate biography, Roberts is a graduate of Lipscomb University in Nashville.

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In a response posted to Facebook, Scott reveals that she “is a college dropout who left school to help a sick parent.”

“Deal with it and the THOUSANDS of other educated black women who are degree-less and YET making moves on behalf of ourselves and our communities,” Scott wrote.

Roberts also suggests that Scott and her supporters were merely at the hearing to “get paid.”

“This is what tells you what you need to know,” Roberts said. “Everybody that was a part of her crowd, her supporters, her acolytes, all pull out their phones because they’re hoping for the viral video. That’s what it’s about, my friend, in the year 2019. ‘Can we provoke a controversy? Can we get a viral video? And can we use that to plea for money so we can get paid to stir the pot?’”

Soon after Robert’s comments were brought to light by the Tennessee Holler, the lawmaker posted to Facebook Monday night saying that his comments were made in a joking manner.

“My listeners clearly understood the humor and hyperbole of it,” Roberts wrote. “That was a week ago. But today, it’s a news story.”

Others disagreed.

1 You use your position to make exaggerated statements / claims not meant to be taken literally. YOU ARE NOT A SERIOUS PERSON AND SHOULD STEP DOWN.
2) Sadly, higher education did not make you more liberal.
3) You use your higher education AGAINST those in need of leadership.

— Worlds Colliding (@tweedlesdeedee) September 10, 2019

State Lawmaker Says Call to Get Rid of Higher Education Was a Joke (2)

I'm not buying that it was a joke/hyperbole. Listen to what he says & how he says it. Then tell me, where's the punchline?

This isn't a joke. This is another sexist racist white man who is pissed that a black woman schooled him.https://t.co/qEbZG4sJ4l

— Barbie Ratched RN (@RN_Atheist) September 10, 2019

State Lawmaker Says Call to Get Rid of Higher Education Was a Joke (3)

They think these extreme positions are normal & know damned well their audience is incapable of discernment. They have no sense of humor & are always demonizing “the left.” It was a STUPID thing to say. The word of the day is “nihilist.” Look that one up @kerryeroberts https://t.co/5dbVLjKNQX

— Pam Keith (@PamKeithFL) September 10, 2019

State Lawmaker Says Call to Get Rid of Higher Education Was a Joke (4)

ALSO he’s try to play it off as a hyperbole, luckily with my higher education I can see the flaws in his argument and rebuttal. You meant what you said Kerry Roberts!

— gressa (@gressamarie) September 10, 2019

State Lawmaker Says Call to Get Rid of Higher Education Was a Joke (5)

1 You use your position to make exaggerated statements / claims not meant to be taken literally. YOU ARE NOT A SERIOUS PERSON AND SHOULD STEP DOWN.
2) Sadly, higher education did not make you more liberal.
3) You use your higher education AGAINST those in need of leadership.

— Worlds Colliding (@tweedlesdeedee) September 10, 2019

State Lawmaker Says Call to Get Rid of Higher Education Was a Joke (6)

Sen. Kerry Roberts of Tennessee says he was joking when he said this last week. Does it look like he is joking?https://t.co/wWy7bbwpko

— Alfonso (@mooneater18) September 10, 2019

State Lawmaker Says Call to Get Rid of Higher Education Was a Joke (7)

Watch the full radio show below. His comments on higher education begin near the 50-minute mark.

State Lawmaker Says Call to Get Rid of Higher Education Was a Joke