Provost Heads Back to the Classroom to Finish What he Started

Posted by: admin on January 20, 2015, 3 Comments

While the East Stroudsburg University community knows Van A. Reidhead, Ph.D., as a higher education administrator, few know he spent most of his time working cattle on his family’s ranch and operating bulldozers for the family earth moving company in Utah when he was growing up.

At 15 years old, while at the wheel of the bulldozer, Dr. Reidhead dreamt that he would one day be doing public relations for Caterpillar, Inc., an American corporation that designs, manufactures, markets and sells industrial machinery. But as he began his collegiate experience at Brigham Young University, he found himself on a path that was best aligned with his childhood experiences. While writing a story for his college newspaper about the anthropology department, he instantly fell in love with something else that took him deeper into the dirt.

With his new passion ignited, Reidhead sought and earned a doctoral degree in anthropology, with an emphasis on archeology.

“With archeology, I was fascinated by different cultures and change,” he said. Reidhead chose to teach anthropology after obtaining his Ph.D. from Indiana University-Bloomington. He spent the next 29 years of his life dedicated to sharing that zeal for unearthed treasures, as well as contemporary cultures from around the world with students at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and the University of Texas-Pan American. All the while, Reidhead became an academic entrepreneur with an interest in growing programs and building academic departments. He founded and directed the Center for Human Origin and Cultural Diversity (CHOCD) to teach cultural competency to grades 4-12, college students, and in-service school teachers while teaching in anthropology and education at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

His talent for expanding programs led him to pursue a dean position. Reidhead was the dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at University of Texas-Pan American for five years. Further success in his career led him to become provost and vice president of academic affairs at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania in August of 2010.

For the past four years, Reidhead has continued to keep his academic/entrepreneurial spirit alive. He supported his leadership team in establishing partnerships with universities in China, Costa Rica and Germany to provide international experiences for students and to increase the international student populations on campus. (The population of international students has grown during his time as provost.) Reidhead also oversaw establishing centers for diverse adult learners to complete four-year and graduate degrees in Center City Philadelphia and downtown Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

With continued success to his credit, Reidhead wanted to step out of the administrative hub and finish out his career where it all began – back inside the classroom. In August of 2014 he resigned from his position as provost and made a decision to go back to teaching.

“There are not many people who have that special opportunity to work with young adults and help build their knowledge and skills,” Reidhead said. “Being a faculty member is an extraordinary privilege that allows you to use your knowledge and play a role in the development of a rising generation.”

Having stepped away from the classroom setting for the past 10 years, he admits he’s both nervous and excited to see all that has changed. More than anything, he looks forward to learning what really matters to today’s students. His fascination of culture and change allows him to embrace the young minds that comprise ESU’s student population.

The rise in technology over the past decade leaves Reidhead feeling eager. He yearns to become fluent in technology – both in and outside of the classroom.

He credits his experience as an administrator for allowing him to see things from both sides and to give him a better understanding of the challenges that face faculty on a daily basis.

“I always knew I could be better when I was a teaching,” Reidhead said. “I want to work now on being as good as I can be. I want to deliver a rock solid academic experience that will get today’s students thinking about their own personal passion, and to follow its course.”

Committed to his beliefs, Reidhead sees teaching as an opportunity to act on the methodologies that inspired him as an administrator. He sees his faculty role as one in which he can encourage students to learn facts, methods and theories critical to making informed decisions, guide students to learn based on the expected outcomes for the class, and help them to achieve success in their education.

Reidhead recalls that the young boy who spent his time on his family’s ranch never “imagined that there would be a way to make a living based on what you are most interested in.” As he prepares to enter the classroom later this month, he finds himself having spent his life doing just what he thought could never be done – making a difference, and digging every moment of the journey.