M. David Rudd

Rudd earned a bachelor’s degree (BA) cum laude in psychology from Princeton University in 1983, where He also lettered in Varsity football.[1] He returned to his home state of Texas to study at University of Texas at Austin, where he holds a master’s degree (MA) and Ph.D. in psychology.[2] Rudd then began active duty service in the United States Military as a U.S. Army Captain at Fort Ord, California. He then completed a post-doctoral fellowship in cognitive therapy at the Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy.[3]

Rudd served as a faculty member at Texas A&M College of Medicine. In 1999, he began at Baylor University as a professor and director of the Clinical Psychology doctoral program. He became a professor and chair of the Department of Psychology at Baylor from 2004 to 2005. From 2006 to 2009, Rudd served as professor and chair of the Department of Psychology at Texas Tech University.[4] In 2009, he accepted the position of dean for the College of Social and Behavioral Science at the University of Utah. While there, he co-founded the National Center for Veterans Studies.[5]

In 2013, he moved to Memphis, Tennessee, to become provost of the University of Memphis.[6]

He was named the 12th president of the University of Memphis on May 1, 2014.[7] He completed his tenure as president on March 30, 2022.

Rudd worked in support of an autonomous governing board for the University of Memphis and in 2016, The Focus on College and University Success (FOCUS) Act was passed by the Tennessee General Assembly, allowing the university to establish a Board of Trustees.[8] The university became the first institution of higher learning to partner with Folds of Honor to support higher education for spouses and children of American soldiers who have died during their service. Rudd founded a consortium in 2019 to encourage other universities to adopt similar programs.[9] The University of Memphis achieved Carnegie R1 designation as a top-tier research university during his tenure, one of only nine universities nationally to move from Carnegie R2 to Carnegie R1 status in the 2021 rankings. [10]Rudd's tenure, described as "transformative", has been marked by enrollment growth nationally, record fundraising numbers, expansion of campus infrastructure, cost-containment and significant improvement in student affordability, along with increased student retention, and the highest graduation rates in university history.[11] During Rudd's final year, the U of M Board of Trustees were one of six universities nationally to receive the Association of Governing Board's Nason Award, in recognition of "exceptional leadership".[12]

In recognition of his service to the University of Memphis, the Board of Trustees created an approximately $4M endowment for a new initiative, The Rudd Institute for Veteran and Military Suicide Prevention, which will focus on clinical service delivery and related research for active-duty military and Veterans.[13]

Rudd's research has been in the fields of suicide clinical assessment, management and treatment of suicide risk, suicide prevention and cognitive therapy. Rudd was identified as being in the top 1% of the most productive researchers globally in suicide research over the past decade by Expertscape in 2021 [14] and his work has been cited almost 15,000 times. [15]

Rudd is a Diplomate of the American Board of Professional Psychology and a Fellow of three professional societies. He has served as a consultant to the United States Air Force, the U.S. Army, the Department of Defense and the Beijing Suicide Prevention and Research Center. In 2010, he co-founded the National Center for Veterans Studies at the University of Utah.[16]

Rudd has served on the Institute of Medicine/National Academies of Science Committee on Assessment of Resiliency and Prevention Programs for Mental and Behavioral Health in Service Members and Their Families.[17]

He is past Chair of the Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists,[18] past President of the Texas Psychological Association,[19] past President of Division 12 Section VII of the American Psychological Association, past Past-President of the American Association of Suicidology, and a previous member of the APA Council of Representatives.

Rudd is married to Loretta Rudd.[20]