From Dean to President: The De Roches Talks Path to a New Role

Image courtesy of the Dean’s Office

Written by Ivanka Perez 11/30/21 11:34

Until the earthquake hit Northern California, Brigadier General Reginald Desroches intended to be a mechanical engineer. While studying for a Ph.D. At the University of California, Berkeley, DeRoch said he used to feel earthquakes — but this earthquake, which measured about 7.0 on the Richter scale, was different.

“I was literally a student on campus where I could see smoke rising from the San Francisco area, which is across the bay, and buildings shaking around me,” Desroches said. “Then one of the bridges collapsed, and there were some mass casualties on one of the bridges not far from where we were. So this really piqued my interest. [earthquake engineering]I ended up switching majors for my graduate work as a result.”

That was around the time he got his Ph.D. De Roches said he realized he wanted to pursue academia. While studying at UC Berkeley, he taught a class at Laney College in Oakland. The experience of teaching students and seeing their growth motivated him to continue this as a career.

You start getting letters from students saying, “This was the best lecture I’ve ever had.” “I never knew how to do this until I explained it.” And it’s really exciting to get that confirmation from people that you’re really effective in this and that you’ve really had an impact on them,” Desroches said.

De Roches was shopping at HEB Bank when he received the news that he would be Rice’s next president. After getting off the phone with Rob Ladd, the chair of the board of trustees, DesRoches went straight to the checkout line to go home and share the news with his wife.

“It was kinda noisy [in the store]Deroch said. “It happened so fast… So I was kind of surprised and surprised and really excited. I was like, ‘I’m going back’ [to the store] And get the rest of the stuff later. “

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Although he was not technically allowed to share the news before the official announcement, DesRoches said he bent the rules to tell his siblings, who were aware of his journey through the application process. Part of the reason de Roches goes to college, he said, is to follow her.

“You always tried to be like your older brothers and do the same. And they all went to college. So I was like, ‘I want to do that too,'” Desroches said.

Despite going into different fields, all of his siblings excel, according to DesRoches. One of the brothers is a doctor, his sister is a lawyer, and his closest brother in age is now the chief financial officer of AT&T.

Since hearing the news, Desroches said each brother has shown support in a different way. One of his brothers flew to Houston the day after the announcement, and Desroches spent the day touring Rice.

“They hear it because of social media, which is unbelievable,” DeRoch said. My sister heard from some of her law school friends and her college friends. It’s like, Reggie, you can’t believe who reached out to me. So they are really proud and excited.”

Before his brothers found out the good news, DeRoch told his children. The night he heard, he made a Zoom call with his kids to tell them the news — which was vague and worrying for his kids, he said.

“They were like, ‘Oh my God, what’s wrong?'” Deroch said. “So we told them, and then I told my brothers that evening. And I was like, ‘No social media, don’t tell anyone, keep this up’ [secret] Even advertising.”

Zoom was not only in large part sharing his new role with his family, but also his experience with his current role as university president. De Roches officially took over the position in July 2020, but began working for the role in March, when the pandemic began to affect Rice’s operations.

Since nearly all of DesRoches’ Zoom meetings at the time have ended, he said he appreciates its usefulness, despite the isolation that the pandemic has entailed. With Rice out of a period of virtual classes, Desroches said he plans to assess the role of technology in the university’s future.

“[Isolation has] Deroch said. “However, without Zoom, we would not have been able to continue to do our job and be able to do some of the things we did. So I think, going forward… we need to know, is there a role for technology while we do our job?”

However, DesRoches said he really appreciates that events have been personally changed — and he knows the students appreciate them, too.

“I know that students are flexible [provided by technology] Even though they want to be face to face.” “So I think going forward, we need to figure out how we can get some of the best things out of Zoom while still keeping what I know students cherish: being in class and getting involved in person.”

The application process to become the university’s next president, according to DesRoches, was rigorous. DesRoches was invited to apply by a recruitment agent, who informed him that he had been nominated to apply. After submitting a resume and a statement of his accomplishments, he went through three phases of interviews. The first was the “Airport” interview, which is the shortest two-hour interview, and is usually given to about ten to fifteen candidates. The group was scaled back for the second round, with about five to seven candidates participating in an interview and a half-day dinner. The final round of interviews took place over the course of a full day, with approximately seven two-hour interviews.

Desroches said the intensity of the operation was reduced due to its length of more than six months.

“Academic operations tend to take time,” DeRoch said. “They are very intense and stressful interviews. But it was [also] Great because it’s a conversation and you can talk about your opinions, your experiences, what you’ve done and what you can achieve for the role.”

Although DesRoches was chosen to follow in Leebron’s footsteps, his immediate goal is to focus on completing his tenure as dean through July. Besides finishing the projects he started during his tenure, DesRoches has two searches to start: finding his replacement and searching for Dean of Research Youssef Shamou, who recently announced that he is stepping down. De Roches said the search for his replacement is nearing conclusion.

“I have seven months and I want to finish this job and make sure to leave the next vice dean in good standing,” Desroches said. “I’m going to spend some time trying to make sure we leave this job in a really good place and finish all the exciting projects we’ve been doing as dean in this office in a really good place for the next person.”

As he is ready to take on the responsibilities of rector, Desroches said he plans to reassess his commitments outside the university in order to manage his time. However, DesRoches said he appreciates being involved in his field of passion, even as he moves to higher management positions. Among other positions, DesRoches chairs the advisory committee to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)’s National Building Safety Team, which is currently overseeing a team investigating the collapse of a surfside apartment complex in Florida.

“I’m a member of a number of research committees and committees related to my organizations, and I’m going to have to pull some of that back in,” Desroches said. “But it’s also good to stay relevant to what my passion is.”

De Roches said that many of his goals as dean translate into his next role as president as well.

“It will be similar to what I spoke about as Dean, which continues to elevate the university’s research visibility and presence, sustaining our commitment to excellence in undergraduate education, and our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion,” DeRoch said. “So it’s comparable to the same vision I had as dean, but on a different level.”

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