David E. Kitchen, Ph.D.

David Kitchen headshotDr. Kitchen serves as Associate Dean for Professional Education & Special Programs in the School of Professional and Continuing Studies. He has served since 2001 as Assistant Dean and Associate Dean during his tenure in senior leadership.

Kitchen earned a B.Sc and PhD in Geology from Queens University Belfast. After working for two years as a petroleum geologist in the North Sea, he started teaching Earth Sciences as lecturer at the Ulster Polytechnic and then as tenured faculty at the University of Ulster

Following ten years of active teaching, research and research supervision, Kitchen was appointed to the position of European Officer for the University of Belfast with a major focus on international research and development. During this time he worked closely with the European Commission in Brussels, with particular focus on research policy and the EU Framework research programs. During this time he was directly involved with project development and grant applications for a number of higher education and educational and research initiatives in both East and West Europe.

Kitchen was then appointed to direct all international research and student programs at the university, and led the development of faculty research collaboration with universities across the European Union, USA, Canada and Mexico, and also served for a short time as interim director of development. While focused on research administration during this period of his career, Kitchen continued to supervise research and taught geology to as adjunct professor with the UK's Open University, working in both Ireland and England.

As an associate professor, Kitchen teaches 2-3 courses a year on earth and environmental sciences, and has taught a course on global warming each summer for the past several years. He has served as representative on the Council of Environmental Deans and Directors, as Environmental Fellow for the Associated Colleges of the South, and as coordinator of university environmental programs. Dr Kitchen was recently awarded a NASA education award to help develop a new course in global climate change. He continues to serve as an active member and the environmental studies course team and serves on the University of Richmond sustainability working group.

He has written a textbook on Global Warming for a Liberal Arts audience, published internationally by Prentice in 2013.