On Feb. 15, 2021 Dr. Laurie Sharp became Tarleton State University’s first Executive Director of Strategic Academic Initiatives. Dr. Sharp previously held the position of the founding Dean of University College, another new position in Tarleton’s Academic Administration. The job of the Executive Director of Strategic Academic Initiatives requires Dr. Sharp to create new academic initiatives as well as evaluate the success of ones that Tarleton had previously implemented.
“In this role, I am responsible for managing strategic initiatives within the Division of Academic Affairs. My work will involve collaborating with a wide range of university partners to develop and ready initiatives to become part of standard division operations,” Dr. Sharp said.
Dr. Sharp will work under the Associate Provost and Associate Vice President for Academic Administration, Dr. Jordan Barkley. She will also be collaborating with many of the other faces in Academic administration such as the new Dean of University College, Dr. Wayne Atchley, in order to create strategic academic initiatives. To the Tarleton student body this is important because Dr. Sharp will be in charge of the programs around campus designed to support student success.
“To me, strategic academic initiatives are programs that support student learning and retention. Such programs may be new, innovative academic practices or they may re-envision existing academic practices,” Dr. Sharp said.
A lot of the student success programs that Dr. Sharp will be in charge of require input from other sources around Tarleton and the Stephenville area. Dr. Sharp will need to spend time in the transition period from her old position creating relationships and networking as well as re-evaluating Tarleton’s current strategic academic initiatives.
“My plan is to first and foremost ensure that [Tarleton’s] strategic academic initiatives serve our students. Additionally, it is vital that I create and nurture partnerships with University leadership, faculty members and staff members throughout the institution, as well as external stakeholders beyond Tarleton,” Dr. Sharp said.
With the move to Division 1, Tarleton is experiencing a growth in needs and as such administrators saw it necessary to create the Executive Director of Strategic Academic Initiatives job position. The Executive Director of Strategic Academic Initiatives and Dean of University College positions are two vastly different but both are necessary to accommodate for Tarleton’s growth.
“As the Dean of University College, I worked closely with five remarkable departments Academic Advising, Career Services, Student Development and Mentoring, Student Retention and the Tutoring and Learning Center to help leverage ways in which their services complement academic goals associated with student learning and success. Essentially, the Dean’s work involved a deep level of implementation. As the Executive Director of Strategic Academic Initiatives, my focus will be more on the development of new initiatives, managing their implementation and developing faculty and staff members who will assume responsibility for initiatives once they become part of university operations,” Dr. Sharp said.
Dr. Sharp wanted to make the switch from Dean of University College because of her dedication to the growing student body at Tarleton.
“There is an extensive body of scholarship that acknowledges the importance of degree attainment. I hold a deep commitment to student success and am honored to serve prospective, incoming and current Tarleton students in this role,” Dr. Sharp said.
She also stressed the importance of building bonds and networking in order to be successful in her new position.
“Relationships are everything. This role, and just about every other role I have served in, is highly dependent on effective collaboration and communication. Making time to establish and maintain strong professional relationships is of great importance,” Dr. Sharp said.
“I like to measure my professional experiences in life story chapters, rather than years. While conducting the business of education, I serve students and have a great potential to impact lives for generations. Additionally, I interact with a number of educational stakeholders who have families, friends and personal interests beyond their work. When I look back on my professional timeline, I recall the chapters for these life stories, including my own,” Dr. Sharp said.
As Dr. Sharp begins a new chapter in her life The JTAC would like to wish her well on her continuing journey with Tarleton. Dr. Sharp has worked on Tarleton’s new QEP: Texan Smart as one of her first projects.