New provost

Agood administrator, says Dr. E. Randolph Richards, needs “a heart to help people be the best that they can be.” That’s part of what drives him as PBA’s new provost and chief academic officer.

Richards became provost in mid-May, after serving 11 years as dean of the School of Ministry and professor of biblical studies. Under his leadership the number of ministry majors grew from 70 to 300, and the school added a fully online undergraduate ministry degree and two master’s degrees.

Medicine and is now a lead scientific reviewer for the Food and Drug Administration. Jacob visited his alma mater in March as keynote speaker for the university’s annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference. The provost’s older son Josh is an English professor at Williams Baptist College in Arkansas, having earned his Ph.D. at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

programs and services. Now it offers daycare for children at the center, as well as hygiene camps and other health programs for a very needy population.

Braddock and Whitely continue to support themselves through other employment so that Sewing New Futures revenue all goes to help “their girls.” They take turns going back and forth to India, where a staff of four nationals continues production. Long hours and difficulties abound, but Braddock said they’ve learned to “focus on the wins,” wins like the 17-year-old who came to them in tears after her husband began forcing her into prostitution.

Sewing New Futures offered this girl a safe, alternative way to earn money, but her husband wouldn’t allow it. Finally he agreed, “if you can pay back her bride price in one month.”

The cost was $5,000, a staggering sum in that economy. “Candice and I just prayed, and it happened,” said Braddock. “We got the donations for the exact amount she owed.”

Now the young mother is happily working at the center, where she and her son are safe. And her family “has made a total 180,” seeing the results, said Braddock. “It’s been amazing to see that mindset change, which is exactly what we’re trying to do.”

After sharing that story in chapel, Braddock invited the Justice Week crowd to have a part in the mission of Sewing New Futures, by buying scarves from the website, promoting the work and praying. “Just having an open heart, open for how God can use you is a great place to start,” she said.

“Randy Richards has the zeal of a missionary for Palm Beach Atlantic’s mission of engaged learning,” said President William M. B. Fleming, Jr. “He is a distinguished scholar, a highly regarded author, a sought-after international speaker and commentator, a seasoned academic administrator and a favorite professor to PBA students.”

Richards has enjoyed leading graduate courses in advanced Greek and serving as a mentor for the Scholars Initiative with the Museum of the Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts Project at Oxford University. But he’s also found it “wonderfully energizing” to teach a Foundations for Christian Ministry class full of freshmen.

An Oklahoma native, Richards graduated from Texas Wesleyan College and earned his Master of Divinity and Ph.D. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He was the first in his family to go to college, but now he leads a family of scholars. His son Jacob is a 2010 PBA grad who earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Florida College of

Randy Richards’ wife, Stacia, has been teaching business education in middle school, but now she has retired from the classroom so she can spend more time at PBA. “She has a particular passion for the families of faculty, especially new faculty, helping them to make the adjustment to PBA,” he said. It’s a primary goal for the provost to work with his deans to recruit and retain outstanding faculty. That’s the key, he said, to producing graduates “as educated citizens and mature, thoughtful followers of Christ.”

Prior to coming to PBA, Richards served as chair of the Department of Christian Missions at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. Previously he was chair of the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Williams Baptist College. He and his wife also served as missionaries to Indonesia, where he taught for eight years as a faculty member and consultant at an Indonesian seminary.

Richards succeeds provost Dr. Gene Fant, who left to become president of North Greenville University in Tigerville, South Carolina.