U of M board names new veteran suicide prevention institute for Rudd
When M. David Rudd returns next year as faculty to the University of Memphis, he will be returning to research veteran and military suicide prevention in an institute carrying his namesake.
The U of M board honored Rudd’s eight-year presidential tenure in its quarterly board meeting Tuesday, creating and bestowing the Rudd Institute for Veteran and Military Suicide Prevention as a home for his research.
“This institute will focus on expanding access and availability of empirically informed approaches to improving the overall well being of active duty military and America’s veterans that have served and sacrificed,” said Doug Edwards, chair of the U of M board, describing the institute as one of the “most meaningful” actions the board has taken.
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A veteran of the Gulf War and former Army psychologist and officer, Rudd has become a leading researcher on suicide prevention among veterans. He previously described the work to The Commercial Appeal as “one of the more hopeful areas you can be in because you have a profound impact in the nature and quality of people’s lives. ”
“It’s incredibly kind,” Rudd told The Commercial Appeal about the naming, “and I’m honored for it to be recognized.”
The institute will receive between $3.5 and $4 million of the proposed state funds toward a $50 million research endowment that the U of M is expected to match dollar-for-dollar, Edwards said. Gov. Bill Lee proposed the endowment in his state address in January, pointing to the U of M’s achievement of the Carnegie R1 research designation, a classification held among top research universities across the country.
U of M was classified as an R1 university in December.
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A distinguished professor of psychology, Rudd will also bring a Department of Defense grant to the institute, where he will continue his research of high-risk psychiatric illness in the military. The Ohio State University is a collaborator in the $8 million grant, of which the U of M receives $2.2 million.
He’ll officially end his presidency at the end of March, and his planned sabbatical will include some research in Fort Carson, Colorado, and some work with OuiTherapeutics, a digital therapeutics company he owns a part of.
Rudd has also started a partnership with The American Legion, he said in a recent interview. The group will partner with the National Center for Veterans Studies, which Rudd started while he was at the University of Utah, and the U of M.
In the coming years, Rudd expects the research group to produce a clinical treatment facility for veterans, with locations in Memphis and around the country.
Rudd named Ohio State University, Florida State University and the Catholic University of America among a set of potential national partnerships that will be at the heart of the institute, he said.
“There’s nobody in the country that is better equipped to run an institute like this than (Rudd),” Edwards said. “First of all, he’s already done it, at the University of Utah, his proteges are involved in work in Ohio State University, and we are incredibly blessed to have him on this campus.”
“This is an area that will have an impact on those folks that have served us in the military,” Edwards continued, “and that I think constitutes one of the best things we’ve ever done around here.”
More:Auburn provost poised to be next president of the University of Memphis
Incoming president Bill Hardgrave, provost at Auburn University in Alabama, was selected as the U of M’s next, 13th president, and will begin this spring.
Laura Testino covers education and children’s issues for the Commercial Appeal. Reach her at [email protected] or 901-512-3763. Find her on Twitter: @LDTestino
