Rhodes’ primary responsibilities in his new position are to provide management and leadership for all academic programs and services, including academic enrollment and financial aid, and to provide overall guidance for undergraduate education at the University.
“I am pleased that Dr. Rhodes has agreed to serve in this position. He is an excellent teacher and deeply committed to students. This will be helpful as we move forward with new initiatives, especially general education,” said M. Beverly Swan, URI provost and vice president for academic affairs.
Full implementation of the University’s new General Education Program will be one of Rhodes’ immediate priorities. “We’re fundamentally changing the way we do general education,” he said. “Instead of simply requiring students to take a certain number of courses in identified areas, our new general education program will be based on ensuring that our students have the fundamental skills in core areas like math and natural sciences that they’ll need for success after graduation. So students will have to demonstrate that they’ve developed competencies in effective writing, speaking and reading, use of quantitative and qualitative data, application of information technology, and an understanding of human differences in different core areas.”
A native of Wilmington, Del. and currently a resident of Wakefield, Rhodes has taught in the URI Department of Fisheries, Animal and Veterinary Sciences since 1982 and served as its chair from 1997 to 2000. He was cited for excellence in teaching by the Rhode Island House of Representatives in 1999, the Council for Agriculture, Research, Extension and Teaching in 1998, and by URI and the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1997.
“I see this job as one where I help bring students to our gates and guide them into our classroom seats,” said Rhodes, who most recently served as interim associate dean in the URI College of the Environment and Life Sciences. “I’m here to provide student-centered, user-friendly services. So I’ll be engaged in initiatives to make sure students can get the classes they want and have opportunities to explore the full suite of funding they may need, and to ensure that they ultimately can secure the career positions they desire.”
Rhodes’ research interests have focused on stress and reproductive endocrinology of sheep and other domestic agricultural animals. He has published dozens of research papers on this and related topics.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in animal science from the University of Delaware and a master’s degree and doctorate in the physiology of reproduction from Texas A&M University. He is married with two grown children, and is an avid surfer, snow boarder and runner.
For Information: Todd McLeish 401-874-7892