The University of Idaho’s provost is stepping aside to return to the classroom.
Torrey Lawrence will leave his current position at the end of spring semester, the U of I Argonaut reported Thursday.
“In my current role, I interact with students a lot,” Lawrence told the Argonaut. “That’s different than teaching throughout a semester and seeing them grow and trying to help them be successful in whatever we’re doing.”
During his time as provost, Lawrence navigated a pair of challenges that affected in-person enrollment and the student experience on the Moscow campus.
He was named provost in December 2020, when the U of I and other institutions worked through the COVID-19 pandemic. In November 2022, an undisclosed number of U of I students abruptly shifted back to online learning, after four students were murdered in a house near campus. (Click here for a November 2022 Idaho EdNews podcast interview with Lawrence.)
Returning to the classroom will be a return to Lawrence’s roots at the U of I. He was hired to the faculty in 1998, teaching tuba and euphonium, concert and athletic bands, and brass methods.
The U of I will now search for an interim provost, the Argonaut reported. Four in-house candidates are in the running: Brian Small, Aquaculture Research Institute director and a fish physiology professor; Ben Hunter, dean of university libraries; Sean Quinlan, dean of the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences; and Brooke Blevins, dean of the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences. Campus listening sessions are scheduled through next week.
