IUPUI Names Richard Ward as Interim Dean of University College

Richard E Ward

A founding faculty member of the academic unit that serves as a common gateway for all entering IUPUI students will serve as interim chief administrator of that nationally recognized unit.

Richard E Ward, Ph.D., has been appointed as interim dean of University College at IUPUI. As dean, he will head the unit that serves entering students from orientation through their entry into degree programs in the undergraduate schools at IUPUI.

Ward is replacing Scott Evenbeck, founding dean of University College. Under Evenbeck’s leadership University College has received national recognition with U.S. News & World Report’s rankings of first-year experiences, the naming of IUPUI as an Institution of Excellence by the Policy Center for the First Year of College, and in citations in John Tagg's "The Learning Paradigm College."

Ward will assume his position on Sept. 1, 2010. He will continue in this position until a permanent dean is named in summer 2011.

The newly appointed dean has been on the faculty of IUPUI since 1985 with joint appointments in the School of Liberal Arts and Dentistry. He is a professor of anthropology and has served as associate dean of student affairs in the School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI since 2003.

Ward is the recipient of several awards, including the Indiana University Frederic Bachman Lieber Award for Outstanding Teaching, and the IUPUI Alfred Bynum Award for Outstanding Mentoring and IUPUI Center for Research and Learning Mentoring Award.

Ward earned a doctorate in biological anthropology from the University of Colorado. He holds a master’s degree from the University of Colorado and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Northern Colorado.