Since becoming president of the University of Memphis nine years ago, M. David Rudd oversaw a major shift in institutional fundraising. The university "doubled how much money is raised annually. . . If you look at an annual basis, nine years ago 75% of what was being raised was athletics. 25% was academics. [Now] 75% of what we raise is academic and 25% is athletics."
Rudd attributes the change in revenue to using athletics as leverage for more conversations about academics.
In addition to talking about the U of M's new revenue stream, Rudd discusses how he went about making college more affordable, including eliminating the tuition hike for out-of-state students and supplying free college financial advisory meetings to students.
Rudd also reflects on some of his main challenges and accomplishments while working at the U of M.