University of Richmond President Ronald Crutcher speaks with media at a Tuesday meeting. Photos by Jonathan Spiers.
University of Richmond dished out its first taste of “Coffee with Crutcher” on Tuesday.
That’s the name of the meet-and-greet sessions that UR students are starting this month to get to know the school’s new president, Ronald Crutcher, and to help him get to know them better.
The sessions are one of several different approaches the new president, who just finished his third month at the university’s helm, is taking to meet not only the UR community but the greater Richmond community, as well.
At the Tuesday event with some of the newest members of his leadership team, Crutcher – UR’s 10th president – discussed those approaches and outlined his priorities for the months ahead.
In addition to meeting with faculty and staff, Crutcher said priorities include extending the university’s regional reputation, which he said could better highlight students’ educational experience.
“While we are a really excellent university and we have grown and developed over the past 10 years in particular, I think that the actual quality of the educational experience students receive here has not really kept up with our reputation in the marketplace,” he said.
Another priority is to hire a new vice president of university communications, which he said would help facilitate a larger branding and marketing effort that’s currently in the works. The university is working with a firm called Generation on research for that effort, which Crutcher said began this fall and would continue until the new position is filled by the start of next year.
“I felt it was necessary to have one person at the university level looking at all of our messaging and communications and marketing,” Crutcher said. “In the highly competitive marketplace we have in higher education these days, if you’re not really intentional about the messages that you project to the market, the market will do that for you.”
A classical musician and most recently the president of Wheaton College in Massachusetts, Crutcher, 66, was hired in February. He succeeds Edward Ayers, who stepped down in July and remains on the faculty.
Joining Crutcher as members of his leadership team are fellow UR newcomers Stephanie Dupaul, vice president for enrollment management; Martha Merritt, dean of international education; and Jamelle Wilson, dean of the School of Professional and Continuing Studies. They join Jacquelyn Fetrow, provost and vice president for academic affairs, who started at the university in 2014.
University of Richmond President Ronald Crutcher speaks with media at a Tuesday meeting. Photos by Jonathan Spiers.
University of Richmond dished out its first taste of “Coffee with Crutcher” on Tuesday.
That’s the name of the meet-and-greet sessions that UR students are starting this month to get to know the school’s new president, Ronald Crutcher, and to help him get to know them better.
The sessions are one of several different approaches the new president, who just finished his third month at the university’s helm, is taking to meet not only the UR community but the greater Richmond community, as well.
At the Tuesday event with some of the newest members of his leadership team, Crutcher – UR’s 10th president – discussed those approaches and outlined his priorities for the months ahead.
In addition to meeting with faculty and staff, Crutcher said priorities include extending the university’s regional reputation, which he said could better highlight students’ educational experience.
“While we are a really excellent university and we have grown and developed over the past 10 years in particular, I think that the actual quality of the educational experience students receive here has not really kept up with our reputation in the marketplace,” he said.
Another priority is to hire a new vice president of university communications, which he said would help facilitate a larger branding and marketing effort that’s currently in the works. The university is working with a firm called Generation on research for that effort, which Crutcher said began this fall and would continue until the new position is filled by the start of next year.
“I felt it was necessary to have one person at the university level looking at all of our messaging and communications and marketing,” Crutcher said. “In the highly competitive marketplace we have in higher education these days, if you’re not really intentional about the messages that you project to the market, the market will do that for you.”
A classical musician and most recently the president of Wheaton College in Massachusetts, Crutcher, 66, was hired in February. He succeeds Edward Ayers, who stepped down in July and remains on the faculty.
Joining Crutcher as members of his leadership team are fellow UR newcomers Stephanie Dupaul, vice president for enrollment management; Martha Merritt, dean of international education; and Jamelle Wilson, dean of the School of Professional and Continuing Studies. They join Jacquelyn Fetrow, provost and vice president for academic affairs, who started at the university in 2014.