Town Hall Q&A
Thank you to everyone who submitted questions ahead of and during the town hall hosted on February 9, 2022. While some questions were addressed live during the town hall, additional questions are included here. Specific questions have been organized into themes and each question is addressed below:
Theme: Mental Health
Q: As we know, mental health has become an area of great concern during the pandemic, especially among young people. There has also been a challenge of attracting and retaining staff who provide mental health and counseling services. Given our Jesuit value of cura personalis, what is the University doing to ensure we have resources available to support our students’ mental health and that those resources are accessible to all?
Q: How is the University supporting the health and well-being of our students considering that national surveys suggests that >50% of graduate students report challenges of depression and anxiety and a nationwide increase in suicide rates? Counseling services were once free and unlimited and are currently not available (6 week waiting list), limited and students are charged a wellness fee.
Q: Is there a long-term plan to change the counseling department to be full time, twelve month positions to increase retention?
As indicated in the Town Hall, we recognize the ongoing and critical need to provide mental health care for our students. We are undertaking the following to ensure mental health services are available and accessible:
- We are very close to signing a contract which would improve our counseling offerings in terms of availability and immediacy.
- We are currently providing access through Medical Services to online counseling support for as well as engaging in person counseling from our Jesuit community. We will assist students who want to meet live with student counselors on our Thornton campus with taxi vouchers if appropriate. To connect with a counselor, contact Counseling Services at 303.458.3507.
- We have several positions posted to hire counselors to work from our campuses. Interviews are underway, however applications are still welcome. We have assessed both the employment terms and the base salaries for these positions to ensure they are competitive in a high demand profession and market. For more information on these positions and other openings, visit our internal career site.
Theme: Diversity and Inclusion
Q: Hispanic and first-gen students continue to make up a greater percentage of our student body, which is something to be proud of. Can you please speak to how the University is focusing on supporting the needs of these students?
Q: Regis talks a lot about diversity and inclusion. We teach this as part of our programs as well. How is Regis trying to live out this mission in terms of hiring a more diverse faculty and senior leadership? Currently, this is a heavily white top leadership and faculty.
We are both grateful and proud of the growing number of Hispanic and first-gen students. We also recognize the need to change how we attract, welcome, retain, matriculate and care for these students and their families. These changes will take both education and institutional commitment. As mentioned in the Town Hall, in addition to leadership training, we are actively pursuing diversity, equity, inclusion and justice training for all faculty and staff.
These changes need to take place in all areas – from admissions to classroom, from advising to financial aid. Dr. Nicki Gonzales is leading us as we actively pursue the requirements for Regis University to become designated as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), and Dr. Salvador Aceves will be serving as the Cabinet representative. We are also working to expand the Summer Bridge program which brings first-generation students to campus during the summer. This program will be expanded to be credit bearing and will focus on college readiness skills.
We openly acknowledge that diversity in hiring needs an immediate and deliberate focus. Over the past two years we have welcomed two Hispanic leaders to our Board of Trustees, and over the past year, our Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusive Excellence and Office of the Vice President of Student Affairs have partnered with Human Resources to develop guidelines and take an active part in hiring decisions for our faculty and staff. Additionally, the Provost's Office has asked a small group of faculty to create an Inclusive Hiring Handbook, which is to be empirically-based and include legal policies and best-practice guidelines based on a review of the literature and practices from other universities. After it has been drafted it will be reviewed by University Counsel and our Title IX coordinator. It will then be distributed for use.
Lastly, the Provost and Vice Provost for Diversity and Inclusion were invited to join the 4th cohort of the Colorado Inclusive Economy:
"The Colorado Inclusive Economy is a statewide movement of design, intent and action led by CEOs and leaders. We support leaders through regular facilitation, an evolving resource toolkit, and peer support to help them build specific Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) strategies that align with their overall organizational goals. Members of the Colorado Inclusive Economy have made long-term commitment to the movement and will report regularly on shared metrics to ensure that we are making regular and sustained progress towards Colorado's inclusive economy."
They are honored to be invited to join this group and to represent Regis University. This is another opportunity to expand our skill set and networking opportunities so that we, as a university, can advance our goals for creating a more diverse and equitable community. For more information on this organization, visit their website.
Theme: Community Building
Q: The selections for both interim president and CIO signal a much-needed shift to making Regis a more focused and business-oriented organization. Given this, how do we plan to maintain that which makes Regis unique? Is it possible to retain our proudly-small, approachable and human-centered academic community?
Q: Regis has demonstrated a robust commitment to the greater community this past year. RHCHP put Covid and flu vaccines in arm and the Safe Outdoor Space in Lot 6 has been overwhelmingly successful. How do you envision Regis walking our talk and living our mission moving forward?
At its core, Regis is a Jesuit, Catholic University and as we assess and improve our governance, business processes and financial outlook, we cannot lose sight of what makes Regis special. In shifting to a stronger business orientation, our hope is to alleviate immediate stress and burden on the academy. We know it is not just possible but absolutely necessary for us to retain our distinctive, personable, and humanistic mission and brand.
Feeling a part of a community – physically, spiritually, intellectually – is a hallmark of the Regis University experience. We also have a responsibility to our community at large, and understand our charge to be a social projection. We intend to continue utilizing our strengths and resources to build both partnerships and opportunities that reflect our Jesuit, Catholic values to walk with the marginalized and care for our common home.
To keep current on what we are doing in our community and to subscribe to our Front Door newsletter, visit our Community Relations page.
Theme: Faculty and Staff Morale
Q: What strategies are University leadership planning to adopt to support improved morale among faculty and staff?
Q: Amidst the COVID pandemic, a decrease in connectedness and social opportunities affects our Regis community. What is Regis going to do to help address this and rebuild a strong sense of community?
Q: What mechanisms are in place to apprise leadership of issues in programs, departments or colleges if someone wishes to do so anonymously or without fear of repercussion?
We acknowledge that the campus and world events of the past few years have been especially hard on our faculty, staff and students. Professionally and personally, we have felt disconnected. We, as a community, need a lift. Gratefully, we are able to restore in-person activities this Spring which will include a faculty and staff appreciation event and service recognition. We are also socializing the framework for a University-wide peer recognition program.
As far as communications, we are reinstating Town Halls and the next one will be Wednesday, April 6. We encourage you to scan the weekly Regist for updates from our Interim President. Effective January 1, all faculty and staff now also receive the Provost’s Digest. If you are not receiving these regular communications, please re-subscribe to ensure our emails reach you.
The Office of the Provost will continue to offer open office hours, which are posted in the Provost's Digest, as well as smaller targeted town hall sessions. As part of the strategic planning process, we will also be holding focus group sessions across all areas of the university. The SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis will also include an anonymous survey.
With our mission and values in mind, we hope that individuals and teams are able to safely surface and resolve issues. We are committed to providing a working environment free from discrimination, sexual misconduct and retaliation in all situations. Employees who wish to provide feedback are encouraged to do so with their supervisor, department chair, dean, director, cabinet member or the university office or official who has responsibility for overseeing the particular area of involvement. If the above paths are not conducive to the topic being raised, our Whistleblower Policy also allows for individuals to raise concerns, including anonymously.
Theme: Faculty and Staff Compensation
Q: How does longevity work into the compensation adjustment plan? Is inflation being taken into account as well?
Q: It was mentioned that you already know which employees are going to get compensation raises. Is there a specific reason for waiting to disclose this information until 2 months from now, when it could be disclosed now instead?
Q: Why are employees that have to commute for work being charged for parking?
All market factors, including inflation and seniority, were considered for the compensation study with Hays. To date, we have not finalized which employees will receive an increase. For focus, the compensation study does call out which individuals may be lagging. Understanding we have limited funds, the next step is to review the detailed and individualized results of the study with academic and functional leaders to determine the allocation of these funds in both this fiscal year and fiscal year 2023. This process is expected to take up to 30 days, after which we will finalize and begin our individualized communications in early April. Generally, stipend payments, retroactive to May 1, 2021 for staff and August 1, 2021 for faculty, will be paid on April 29, 2022. Base salary adjustments will be reflected in the May 13, 2022 paycheck.
All faculty and staff who park in a Regis University lot are charged for parking through payroll deduction. Parking revenue helps offset parking lot maintenance and improvements. While our parking rates are competitive, we adjust parking costs using compensation tiers. Lower compensation levels are charged a lower rate. We plan to continue charging for parking.
Theme: Finance and Budget
Q: As anyone who has been at Regis for a few years we've heard far too many times at State of the University addresses that our tuition dependency ranges anywhere from 93-97% and “we gotta get away from that.” What financial investments or initiatives are being formulated or enacted to ensure the health of the university and get us away from such high tuition dependency?
Q: What will happen if we do not meet enrollment goals for the next target date/fiscal year?
Q: What is the future plan for fiscal stability, besides cutting staff, budgets, benefits, departments, etc.?
In FY 2021 and FY 2020, our net tuition and fees was 74% of total operating revenue. Given our dependency on tuition revenue, revenue growth requires increased student enrollment and improved retention and graduation rates. To do so, we need to ensure we are meeting the needs and interests of our current and prospective students. In parallel we need to increase our endowment and lower our dependency on University-funded financial aid. We are actively engaged in actions and solutions to meet these vital needs. Separately but related, we have rich assets in our land and facilities. We are actively working to bring Regis Village to life and to attract businesses and organizations to use our facilities for a fee.
While we are making every good faith effort to meet our enrollment goals for FY23, should we fall short of our projections, our contingency fund and investments should help mitigate some or most of the student revenue shortfall. At the same time, we are looking for ways to increase the number of students that choose Regis and ensure our services and technology meet the needs of today's students. This is not a one-size-fits-all approach. We are pursuing a variety of partnerships with national organizations as well as local employers, and will continue to update you as these progress.
We understand the hardships and heartache from eliminating positions, suspending or reducing benefits and doing more with fewer colleagues. We also know the fatigue that comes from consistent downward trends. While the change in trajectory may take some time, we are confident that we are creating a sustainable path forward through stabilization of enrollment and generation of revenue growth. We encourage you to listen to a replay of the Town Hall.
Theme: Leadership and Organization
Q: Does HR provide, or can they provide information on turnover, vacant positions, and what we are doing to hire new talent?
Q: Can you tell us about the progression on the formation of the search committee for the next president? Are we using an outside company for the President search?
Q: There are several top-level vacancies and it causes some anxiety as we see those individuals leave mid-year. Is this something to be expected?
Q: Fr. Fitz was a great leader and president. He was personable and engaging. in many people's opinion, he led gallantly in many circumstances beyond him, like the cyber-attacks and COVID. How is Regis planning to honor Fr. Fitz and his legacy?
All open positions are readily available to faculty and staff on our internal career site. We continuously monitor turnover rates and remain below the average turnover rate for the Denver Metropolitan area. In addition, we are formalizing an employee referral program to help with talent referrals.
The presidential search is being led by Dr. Jo Ann Rooney, President of Loyola University of Chicago and Regis University Trustee and Executive Committee Member. We have identified a national search firm and have started conversations with Trustees to identify the desired characteristics of our 25th President. The search committee is being identified and the search process will include faculty, staff and students of Regis University. It is imperative that we also account for diversity and equity in our search and ensure a robust and qualified slate of candidates.
We are finalizing the search for the Dean of Regis College. In addition, we have engaged a national search firm to identify our next Vice President of Advancement. To ensure we are organized for success and for razor focus, we will also begin engaging a national search firm to identify a Vice President of Enrollment Management.
Earlier this month, Fr. Fitzgibbons returned from a well-deserved vacation and is now giving his time and talent to furthering the Manifest Magis campaign. We plan to celebrate his contributions to Regis University concurrent to our commencement exercises in late April and early May. We hope you will join us in celebrating all he has done and continues to do for Regis.