On June 30, 2016, Richard Ashbrook will be leaving his position as provost and vice president of academic and student affairs and transitioning back to the psychology department.
For the next academic year, Terry Lahm has taken on the position of interim provost. The search for a new provost will be launched nationally and led by the university’s president elect, Beth Paul.
Ashbrook has been working at Capital University since 1986, when he joined the psychology department, and has served the university in a variety of capacities since.
Starting in 2007, he became the interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Then, he took over as dean of the college. He started in his current position as provost in early 2010.
As provost, Ashbrook has been able to see Capital’s campus from a different perspective than he had as a professor and as dean of the college.
“This position affords you a view of how important all of the university employees are to the learning outcomes, [and] to the campus community,” Ashbrook said. “I think I’ll leave this position with a much greater appreciation for all that goes into the education of the students.”
He has been able to work closely with the staff of student affairs, resident and commuter life, the facilities staff, financial aid, and others, giving him a wide viewpoint of the work that goes into managing the university’s campus.
Ashbrook has also worked on building the learning community by helping develop the Honors program and expand the neighborhood by including more houses on Sheridan and College Avenues.
He has also been an advocate of diversity and inclusion. Under him, the office of diversity and inclusion (ODI) became the umbrella organization for minority and underrepresented groups.
He has also been a champion for students, working to create a high quality educational environment on campus that educates the whole person. He believes that faculty, staff and students work together to create this type of environment, especially the students.
“I’m not sure students always realize how much they contribute to the overall experience of the university campus, [and] the university learning communities,” Ashbrook said.
For the 2016-2017 academic year, Ashbrook will be on sabbatical, working on various projects including writings that he had started in the past and a couple of scholarship projects. He also plans on revisiting his background in psychology.
“I’ll be, kind of, freshening my knowledge of my discipline so I’m ready to teach,” Ashbrook said.
When he returns to Capital, he will be a tenured professor in the psychology department.
“I’ll likely be teaching research methods, psychological ethics, psychological assessment, [and] probably some others too,” Ashbrook said.
Ashbrook is a clinical psychologist by training. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland and earned his master’s degree and PhD from the Ohio State University. He also received additional training at the University of Rochester.
