“The Honors College really felt to me how our College should
operate,” said Triplett of the campus program, which includes undergraduate
research opportunities. “We should be married to the Honors Program. Honors
students become Ph.D.s.”
In 2008, Triplett received a $520,000 grant from program to
provide two-year scholarships, peer mentoring, tutoring and study tools for
qualifying freshmen and transfer students. Called IncREaCE (Increasing
Retention for Electrical and Computer Engineers), Triplett was inspired to
write the grant after serving on an NSF committee charged with reviewing
university scholarship programs.
“IncREaCE was making sure that every student who came in
graduated. Retention is a big issue, equally as important as recruitment,” he
said.
Triplett has received campus recognition for his work with
students. In 2009, he received the MU Chancellors Excellence Award for Most
Outstanding Advisor. The following year, Triplett received a coveted William T.
Kemper Fellowship for Excellence in Teaching. Kemper Fellowships were
established at MU in 1991, and each year five teachers are honored with a
surprise visit to their classroom to announce the award.
In 2011, Triplett was a nominee for the U.S. Professors of
the Year program, and in 2013, he was named a SEC Academic Leadership
Development fellow, a development program that seeks to identify, prepare and
advance academic leaders.
Triplett said the position at VCU represents a great
opportunity. VCU is offering new opportunities for students and faculty and he
will be tasked with growing its graduate pipeline. He said he is very excited
about getting to have more impact on graduate research.
“You listen [to students], and ask questions like what is
they want to do. This is a critical decision for them. Do you tell them what
they want to hear or what they need to hear? Sometimes it is one, sometimes the
other. But it always includes, ‘This is what it will take,’” Triplett said.
“The activities I have embraced at MU all lead to getting students into
graduate school.”
Triplett’s wife, Deborah Noble-Triplett, will leave her post
as assistant vice president for academic affairs with the MU System to become a
senior vice provost at VCU.
Triplett earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical
engineering from Florida A&M University and his master’s degree from
Florida State University. He earned his Ph.D. from the Georgia Institute of
Technology.