Rochester Institute of Technology. Office of the Provost. Associate Provost for Outreach Programs

The first provost for the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) was appointed in March 1970. RIT had recently relocated from the city of Rochester to the suburbs of Henrietta. The school already had eight colleges including the newly-formed National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) and was quickly growing. Unable to properly address the academic needs of the expanding campus on his own, President Dr. Paul A. Miller appointed Dr. Todd Hupp Bullard as RIT's first provost. Provosts were becoming more popular on college campuses, partially as a result of the growing number of applicants under the G.I. Bill following World War II. College administrators could no longer handle the increasingly complex nature of a school's administration. Although other individuals had filled the role of the provost at RIT, such as Dr. Leo F. Smith who served as the Dean of Instruction during the 1950s and 1960s, Bullard was the university's first official provost. In this position, Bullard was charged with overseeing the development and strengthening of RIT's academic curriculum, while maintaining a balanced budget. The RIT Office of the Provost was comprised of several team members. One such member was the Associate Provost for Outreach Programs. The person in this position was responsible for outreach initiatives by the university including "university-wide industry outreach and research relations." Since RIT's predecessor, the Mechanics Institute, was founded to provide training to individuals working in Rochester's various industries, it was natural for RIT to continue to reach out to those industries. Most recently, Dr. Donald L. Boyd served as the Associate Provost for Outreach Programs and Director of the First in Class initiative at RIT. He was promoted to Vice President of Research in 2006. As of 2011, the Provost's Leadership Team included eight members: Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Vice President for Research, Assistant Provost for Undergraduate Education, Senior Associate Provost, Assistant Provost for Academic Affairs, Director of CIMS & Golisano Sustainability Institute, Assistant Vice President, and the Associate Provost for Faculty Success.