Ohio University Eastern interim dean Richard Greenlee reflects on his previous time as dean from 2008 until 2013.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Ohio University Eastern interim dean Richard Greenlee has a long history educating students at OUE.

For the past 36 years, Greenlee has been teaching not only at OUE but Ohio University’s main campus in Athens.

“I started in Athens, I taught there as a faculty member in the Department of Social Work. I’m a social worker,” he said. “And then I was the chair of the department at one time, I was an associate provost for Appalachian Access.”

Before working at OU, the Union Local graduate was a military social worker in both the Air Force and Army from 1973 to 1986.

“I was in the Army as a social work psychology specialist, but I did a lot of different kinds of social work, mostly mental health. I was a director of substance abuse treatment centers and did mental health outpatient work and inpatient work and a variety of different things,” Greenlee said. “I was a social work psychology specialist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and then I was in the Air Force. I was a captain clinical social worker.”

Greenlee holds a Ph.D. in Social Work from The Ohio State University and an MSW from the University of Pittsburgh.

After his time in the military, he began his education career. In 1990, he began working at Ohio University in Athens before returning to Belmont County to teach at OUE.

“I have a strong commitment to this campus and our students. I’m a first generation high school graduate. My dad only went to the seventh grade, and my mother didn’t graduate from high school, but I’ll tell you, they were both very hard working people, and I learned a lot about having a strong work ethic from them,” Greenlee said. “And so my family has lived here in Belmont County since the early 1800s. My mother’s people were from Monroe County. I have real strong roots here, to come back here from Athens – I greatly appreciated the opportunity when it happened.”

Greenlee knows the quality of education that can be obtained in Belmont County.

“I believe in this campus. I believe in the education we do here,” he said. “I think you can’t get a better high quality, affordable education than right here in their own backyard, and we work very hard to have, you know, high quality teaching. Our professors all have PhDs from some of the finest universities in the United States.”

Following his return to Belmont County in 2000, Greenlee became dean of the university from 2008 until 2013 when he retired.

That retirement was brief and in April of 2025, Greenlee replaced dean David Rohall. Greenlee will end his term this coming June when he will retire once again – that time for good.

“June 30 will probably be when I formally retire for the last time,” he said. “I have other interests that I like doing that I want to pursue,” he said.

When speaking about how the college has grown in the 30-plus years of him working for it, he pointed to OUE’s bachelor’s degrees program.

“You can get the whole bachelor’s degree right here. That’s a big change because in the beginning we had some but I think [that program] has become more central to what we do.”

“And then business – you know, that’s also a good degree for our community. We have three core degrees, and I might add a fourth business, but social work, nursing and education are very much needed in our community – all three of those professions.”

He added that OUE also has six rooms that can pipe in presentations and faculty who are teaching on other campuses to its students, and the OUE staff can teach students on other campuses.

“It’s a great way for the regional higher education system to spread our expertise around,’ Greenelee said. “We also have some of those systems set up at Barnesville High School where they have a classroom there of our equipment that’s been set up so that we can teach high school students for college credits.”

He added that OUE has been around for nearly 70 years, and he believes, in those 70 years, it has continued to give Ohio Valley an opportunity to achieve their dreams regardless of income.

“I think we give students hope that they can have a better life – not that they don’t come from wonderful families, and in fact, they do – but I think we give them hope that they can get an education here,’ Greenlee said. “They don’t have to go away and they don’t have to acquire a lot of debt to go to school. They can build a career and be able to take care of their own families,”

That’s why having a quality college in their backyards matters.

“Our goal is for them to stay here and to build our community with expertise and all these different professions and we’ll be better in the long run for that kind of thing.” Greenlee said.

He added that he hopes that the business students create businesses locally and hire local residents and become leaders in the community.

“We’re going on 70 years here, and we have made significant contributions in so many ways to our community,” Greenlee said. “I remember when I was moving back up here after leaving Athens, when I crossed over into Monroe County and Belmont County, I said, ‘These are my people,’ and I say that with pride. I was always proud to be from here. When I was in the military, I was all over the United States and different places, but still had my roots here.”

He added that he believes the Ohio Valley is where he belongs.

“I’m proud to be the dean here. I take that with great honor, and I try to live up to it every day,” Greenlee said.