New Provost to Oversee Enrollment

By: WILLIAM SORENSEN

The University of Mary Washington has appointed Fred Pierce to the newly created position of associate provost for enrollment management and student services.

Pierce’s appointment will take effect on July 25, and will put him in charge of enrollment, recruitment and student services at UMW.

More specifically he will oversee the Offices of Admissions, the University Registrar, Academic Services, Disability Resources and Career Services.

Pierce expressed a great deal of excitement about his upcoming work at UMW, calling it, “a very attractive place to pursue an opportunity.”

According to Pierce, the most attractive part of UMW is its size. There are certain qualities about small schools, he says, that fit his strengths better than his current, larger school, the University of Tennessee.

In particular he prefers the smaller number of students, because it enables stronger student/staff relations and allows for a more transforming educational experience.

He also praised UMW’s efforts to provide a quality educational experience to its students, calling it, “something I’d like to be a part of.”

He is enthusiastic about serving along side existing faculty and staff in furthering this end, and improving student life in any way possible.
The opportunity of returning to Virginia, his birth state, is also important to Pierce.  To him, Tennessee was a nice place to live and work, “but it never really felt like home.”

Pierce currently serves as the undergraduate programs director at the University of Tennessee. In this position he was responsible for the business college’s curriculum development, study abroad programs and various support services.

He also co-directed the college’s honors program and managed the advising and academic services of over 5,000 undergraduates.

According to Pierce, this experience has given him an understanding of student needs which will help him to excel in his upcoming stay at UMW.

Prior to his position at the University of Tennessee, Pierce was a program counselor with Project Discovery, a People Incorporated Community Action Agency, in Abingdon, Va.

Over the course of his career Pierce has earned numerous awards, such as the College of Business Administration Outstanding Staff Award for Professionalism in 2004 and 2010, and the Provost’s Citation for Excellence in Advising in 2002. All of these honors were bestowed by the University of Tennessee.

He received a master’s degree from the University of Tennessee, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Belk College of Business.