This July, the College of Arts & Sciences welcomes a new Associate Dean, Dr. Nedra Reynolds. As she steps into this role, Dr. Reynolds looks forward to leading initiatives and working closely with department chairs, faculty, and, most importantly, students. The vast network of connections and leadership experiences Reynolds has fostered throughout her twenty-seven year career at URI makes her a natural fit for the position. Reynolds served as Director of Writing Across URI for two years, a program that supports all writers across the University. Before that appointment, she was the Chair of the Department of Writing & Rhetoric for ten years. Her extensive academic research focuses on rhetorics of space and place, built on a background in feminist rhetoric, ethnographic studies, and cultural geography.

Of her administrative experience, Reynolds notes: “I have experience in faculty development, asking faculty to think about ways to change what they’re doing and get closer to best practices by building sustainable change but making it manageable. What I’ve learned there will help my work in the Dean’s Office.”

“After twenty-seven years, URI is home. I’ve built relationships, friendships, and a deep institutional history. It’s beautiful here. I continue to be impressed by students, their diversity, and the programs that help make them successful. This is an excellence place to support learning.”

“I want students and faculty to feel like they belong,” Reynolds elucidates, “not just in the Dean’s Office, but in the College as a whole.” She looks forward to upcoming renovations throughout the Chafee Social Science Center—the home of the Dean’s Office—that will make the College’s academic advising more open and physically accessible for students. She is eager to grow the Arts & Sciences Summer Fellows Program and support new academic initiatives, like the International Studies and Diplomacy Program. A champion of the arts and humanities and of fostering an inclusive atmosphere, Reynolds will work to recruit and retain diverse faculty from underrepresented or unrepresented groups.