Biography

Dr. Rick L. Upchurch is the Associate Vice President of Adult, Graduate, and Online Studies at Belhaven University. At Belhaven University he oversees the non-traditional academic operations. He has worked at National American University, a for-profit, publicly traded institution as Vice President of Institutional Effectiveness. Dr. Upchurch has worked in Christian higher education since 1998, serving on various accreditation committees along the way. He has presented at the Higher Learning Commission for the North Central Association, Center for Research in Adult Learning, Christian Adult Higher Education Association, and ACCESS, a national association of Christian distance education. His presentations have included curriculum development in adult degree completion programs, strategic planning for higher education, enrollment management, and key performance indicators. He has published: a Guidebook for Course Development and Evaluation, outlining a curriculum evaluation tool which is being used in various schools across the country. From 2009-2011 he co-facilitated the Huntington County Leadership Academy, in Huntington, Indiana. Dr. Upchurch served two terms as president of ACCESS, a national Christian distance education association. He brings his strengths as a system engineer to every position and has designed and implemented systemic improvements wherever he has served, demonstrating not only a grasp of system process, but the ability to work collaboratively to achieve improvement.