Bonny Harper, Campus Carrier Editor-in-Chief
Berry College President Stephen R. Briggs announced last Friday that there would be a change in some of the administrative responsibilities at the college in order to take on several projects for the 2012-2013 academic year.
Those whose responsibilities have changed include Provost Katherine Whatley, who is now working “directly with Dr. Briggs on issues related to institutional planning, analysis and policy development,” and Dr. Kathy Richardson, a communication professor, who is now filling the role of Vice President for Academic Affairs for a three-year term as well as Acting Provost while Whatley is on special assignment, according to the press release from the Office of Public Relations.
Briggs said in the press release that the changes are in response to the need to divide responsibilities among the administration.
“As Berry strives to improve our academic programs and remain fiscally healthy, we have developed a new division of responsibilities,” Briggs said in the press release.
Richardson said Whatley will be working on special projects for which Berry has received a grant.
“Dr. Whatley’s going to research issues like budgeting and staffing with (Dr. Briggs),” Richardson said. “We also became involved last year, through a grant and some other initiatives, in some projects to look at how we can deepen learning, so she’s going to focus on those projects too.”
With Whatley taking on those responsibilities, the need arose for an Acting Provost, a position for which Richardson said she was suited due to holding the positions of Acting Provost and Interim Provost in previous years.
“From 1999 to 2008 I was Associate Provost, so I had a lot of experience with different parts of the college. In 2008 and 2009 I served as Interim Provost until we found Dr. Whatley,” Richardson said.
Richardson said she stayed on as Associate Provost for Whatley’s first six months as Provost, so she was able to “jump in” a little more quickly for the role of Acting Provost.
The duties of the Acting Provost, according to Richardson, are to “work with the deans and the department chairs to strengthen and support the academics here at the institution.”
Richardson said she works with several councils, as well as with the deans of the schools as they lead searches for faculty.
With her new role as Acting Provost, Richardson, who joined the faculty at Berry in August of 1986, said she will miss teaching full time the most.
“I love teaching, and we have a fabulous array of courses and students,” Richardson said. “And with the courses I teach in communications, and especially public relations, the material changes so frequently that you never teach the same course twice.”
Despite missing her courses and students, Richardson said she looks forward to serving the college and its faculty.
“I have a great commitment to this institution and have spent most of my career here,” Richardson said. “I was quite willing to accept this position as a service to the institution.”