Maureen Reddy Honored With RIC Faculty Leadership Award

RIC Professor of English Maureen Reddy was named recipient of the RIC Faculty Leadership Award on June 28 at a surprise gathering in the office of Vice President for Academic Affairs Ron Pitt.

“I was incredibly surprised,” Reddy said. “In fact, it took me a few minutes to figure out what was happening.”

English Department faculty consistently described Reddy as one of the hardest working faculty members they know. She “never seems to be off the job, and, in fact, never seems to sleep,” said a colleague. Whether as chair, co-chair or as an individual member, her engagement has been described as “passionate and substantive.”

During her two terms as English Department chair, she was cited for strengthening the diversity of the English Department programs and offerings, as well as the camaraderie and commitment of the faculty itself.

“One mark of a leader is the ability to initiate action and change, and to have a vision and implement it,” said Professor of English Barbara Schapiro. “Maureen initiated a number of new practices that have since become traditions. She put in place a departmental mentoring system as well as a monthly lunch with pre-tenure faculty. In addition, Maureen was the first to organize what has now become an annual departmental retreat at the Alton Jones Conference Center in the fall. . . She set the model for these retreats and other departments have since followed and now arrange similar retreats themselves.”

Reddy also met regularly with junior faculty to share and reflect on their daily work in the classroom, to talk about research and service, and to invite them to ask questions about RIC and Rhode Island culture. She is noted for her “gutsiness” and for being a “fearless advocate” for the concerns of faculty both in her department and in the larger academic community.

Associate Professor of English Vincent Bohlinger, who earned tenure while Reddy was chair of the department, admitted that he envied her quick wit and sharp tongue. “Oh, you will always know what she thinks about an issue,” he said. “But I especially value her moral compass and great sense of fairness. Dr. Reddy has long been a role model, even a personal hero. If I am currently seen as a present, vocal and active member of the campus community, then it is entirely because I learned it from her. She taught me that speaking up for the issues one cares about is not enough. One must be willing to put in the time and do the work in order to affect positive change. The greatest single lesson I learned from her is to jump in early in order to help shape the goals and process of any task.”

Outside of RIC’s English Department, Reddy has taken on college-wide leadership roles, including piloting the college’s universal advising system, co-directing the college’s strategic plan and her current post as college assessment coordinator and chair of the Committee on Assessment of Student Outcomes. She has served on the College Human Relations Committee and on the Gender Relations Subcommittee. She has also served as chair of the College Committee on Academic Advising, the First Year Experience Committee, the Deans Representative to the College Writing Board and as facilitator for the School of Nursing and School of Social Work’s curriculum revisions meetings.

Pitt pointed out, in particular, her key role in the historic Central Falls/Rhode Island College partnership. He said to her, “You did a magnificent job of helping all of us to imagine, envision and find a place for ourselves in what will be an unprecedented development for Rhode Island College and Central Falls.”

Upon the conclusion of the intimate award ceremony, Reddy remarked, “I feel lucky every day that I get paid to do a job that I love and that has many intrinsic rewards, not to mention the company of terrific colleagues. The Faculty Leadership Award comes as a wonderful, surprising additional benefit. I am most grateful for this award, and deeply touched that my department nominated me for it. RIC is a great place, with many dedicated faculty members whose service to their students, their departments and the college in general goes well beyond what anyone could reasonably expect. Given that reality, I am all the more appreciative that the committee chose me for this year’s award, and I promise to try to live up to it.”