Spies to leave Brown in December

RICHARD R. SPIES, executive vice president for planning at Brown University, is leaving the university this December. / COURTESY BROWN UNIVERSITY
RICHARD R. SPIES, executive vice president for planning at Brown University, is leaving the university this December. / COURTESY BROWN UNIVERSITY

PROVIDENCE – Richard R. Spies, who, as executive vice president for planning at Brown University, has been side-by-side with President Ruth Simmons in her vision for expansion, is leaving the university this December.

Spies came to Brown in January 2002, just one semester after Simmons, who announced her retirement at the end of the academic year last spring.

In his post, he has helped the university achieve growth originally outlined 10 years ago that has included the opening of the Laboratories for Molecular Medicine and the Brown Alpert Medical School within the city’s so-called Knowledge District.

To date, the university provides around 1,000 jobs within that district that several educational institutions and business organizations hope to create a medical-educational hub that will create skilled workers for available jobs to help revitalize the state’s economy.

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“It’s not as if there was one moment when a nice blueprint was rolled out and everybody said great or not so great,” Spies said. “It’s very much evolving. It’s been amended and expanded a number of times.”

He told the Brown Daily Herald his decision was based on his ties to Simmons and her plans. He’ll continue working with Brown through December but will be leaving his actual office next month.

As of yet, he has no plans for his time post-Brown. “That’s what my wife keeps asking,” Spies said.

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