SHARON -- A new vice provost and dean for undergraduate education, C. Gregory Knight, begins his duties today after being approved for the position by the University's Board of Trustees Saturday.

The position includes responsibility for the Division of Undergraduate Studies, the University Scholars Program, the Academic Assistance Program, Black Studies, the Science Technology and Society Program, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and instructional development, Knight said.

Knight said he will also work with the new Vice Provost and Dean for the Commonwealth Educational System Richard Grubb, on developing curriculum programs for the system.

"At some point responsibility for academic development at Commonwealth campuses will move from Dr. Grubb's office to my office and at that point an associate deanship will be developed," he said.

Jerry Covert, who has acted as dean of undergraduate education, will become associate dean, Knight said.

Knight said his goals are to encourage faculty to invest more time in their teaching and to build a tradition of undergraduate research. Programs which allow undergraduates to participate in research already exist at the University -- such as in work-study, thesis or writing programs -- but not enough students know about them, he added.

"It's more a matter of increasing the awareness of what is going on in undergraduate research," he said.

Knight has been head of the geography department at the University since 1982. He first joined the geography faculty in 1971 after spending a year at a research associate at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

Knight holds masters and doctoral degrees from the University of Minnesota.