WEST LIBERTY, W.Va., Aug. 10, 2018 — Dr. Jeremy Larance has been selected as assistant provost for academic innovation and strategic planning. He began his role on July 1.

“Jeremy is passionate about his new role and has been actively working on student success and retention projects,” said Dr. Brian Crawford, WLU provost.

The new position was needed to address many administrative needs in areas like leading, completing and monitoring the University Master Plan, development of an Instructional Technology Master Plan, overall academic planning and policy creation.

“I’m very excited about the possibilities of this new position. It’s allowing me to do things I was doing in my former role as department chair for humanities and expand it university-wide,” said Larance, who has been a member of WLU’s faculty since 2005 when he began as an adjunct in the English department. He became a full-time faculty member in 2007.

A native of Arkansas, Larance earned his undergraduate degree in English from the University of the South (Sewanee, Tenn.). He then earned a master’s in English Literature from Louisiana Tech in Ruston, La. and a doctoral in English at University of Tulsa (Okla.).

“Initially, I’ll be working on the early stages of WLU’s master plan, laying out the strategic plan for the next five years. While working on that, I’ll also head up a team working on a ‘momentum year’ initiative. This will help first year students in the areas of retention and overall success,” he explained.

Retention and student success is something he’s worked on extensively, taking part in West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission (HEPC) projects, like the recent Momentum Year Summit where education leaders agreed to participate in this program designed to improve student success during the first year of college and sustain that momentum through to graduation.

He’s also proud of the fact that WLU doubled its pass rate in remedial writing over the past five years while he served as chair of the Department of Humanities.

Other projects that Larance will assist with in his new role include helping with the design and implementation of new academic programs and academic innovation projects across all WLU’s academic colleges.

Larance also will teach one class a semester, either in composition or literature. His office is now located on the second floor of Shaw Hall. 

West Liberty University is a forward-looking, four-year public university steeped in a rich heritage as West Virginia’s oldest institution. Today it offers more than 70 undergraduate majors, plus a growing number of graduate programs including master degrees in education, physician assistant studies, biology, professional studies, the new clinical psychology, along with several online degrees, including a master’s in criminology, an MBA and the new master’s in dental hygiene. 

For more information, please call 1.866.937.8542 (WESTLIB) or visit westliberty.edu.