A Letter from Dr. Karen Riley

Good afternoon Regis,  

This has been quite a week with many events for faculty, staff and students alike.  I hope you were able to make it to one or more of the events with our Chester Alter Visiting Professors earlier this week. The speakers and all of the events were made possible through the Chester Alter Visiting Professor Endowment.  The purpose of the fund is "to bring outstanding scholars from the arts, humanities, sciences or business to teach a course or seminar in their area of specialization or to give a series of lectures and/or to make one or two public addresses." The endowment was created with the idea that “one of the most important attributes of a college is its climate for intellectual excitement. Nothing contributes more to the realization of such an environment than the presence of outstanding scholars who just by being on campus serve as models for students and faculty alike.” Although we do not have an exact count, over 400 staff, students and faculty were able to engage with these impressive scholars and speakers. We model lifelong learning for our students when we participate in events and gatherings such as these. As a reminder, the Chester Alter funding will be available each academic year—please reach out to members of the Provost’s Advisory Committee or to the Provost’s email if you are interested in submitting a proposal to bring a visiting scholar to Regis.  A special thank you to Dr. Linda Land-Closson for nominating this group and for all of her work in creating a schedule that provided so many options for engagement, and to Sandy Wojciehoski for all of the organizing, scheduling and implementation. We can’t thank you enough. 

Closing the Loop  

We have many initiatives and as a result I want to make sure that we are intentionally closing the loop.  I mentioned awhile back that in early March I hosted office hours via Zoom for our affiliate faculty. We had some great conversations and I wanted to summarize the themes. The group was made up of more recent hires as well as those who have been teaching at Regis for decades; all three colleges were represented, and about 25 attended in all.     

• Compensation. The more prevalent theme involved compensation. Those present expressed a desire for an increase in pay per course. Several people asked about opportunities to be hired for assisting with things outside of teaching—such as writing or updating courses, serving on committees, or even things outside of their particular college. One person inquired about the possibility of higher pay for teaching at the graduate level. Related to the concern about compensation was a frustration about not necessarily being able to reliably predict when they would be asked to teach next. Lastly, some asked about the possibility of enhancing compensation with the ability to take Regis courses for free.   
• Professional development. Those present expressed a desire for feedback on their teaching. There was a perception from at least some present that their course evaluations are not being read or addressed. They also asked for an annual review. Lastly, a question came up about the possibility of engaging in professional development and wondered if that could be compensated as well.  
• Inclusion. There is a desire on the part of some of our affiliates to be included in things like faculty meetings; though these often take place during the day, making it difficult for many affiliates to attend.  
• A final theme I would characterize as curiosities. The affiliate faculty were interested in discussing things such as enrollment, the future of online education, and the factors that differentiate Regis. They also asked about efforts to diversify our ranked and affiliate faculty. Concerns were also raised about the  skill sets of our students, especially around making arguments grounded in data.   

Although we cannot address all of these concerns and requests at this time, I have shared the thoughts of this group with Provost’s leadership team as well as Deans’ Council.  I also wanted to share them with all of you for the sake of transparency and because I think that when we share concerns with one another we frequently come up with  creative solutions. I will continue to offer office hours specifically for our affiliate faculty once a semester via Zoom. Our affiliates now also receive this Provost’s Digest, which I hope will help facilitate continued dialogue and foster a greater sense of community.    

Feedback 

In the last Digest, we included the link to an anonymous survey soliciting feedback on the Provost’s Executive Team and their work. This survey will close on Sunday, April 10th. As a reminder, this is the second such open and anonymous survey we have distributed- the first was in the Fall. In subsequent issues we addressed the feedback provided in that first survey. Likewise, beginning with the second April Digest, we will begin addressing the feedback from the current survey as well as provided responses and/or follow-up as need be.   

 Finally, I want to thank all of the faculty marshals for stepping up to support Commencement. Cathy Gorrell and Jane O’Neill will be reaching out soon to let you know about a brief training  to help prepare for your roles on that important weekend. Like I shared at this week’s town hall, we are more than grateful for any staff assistance at Commencement as well. Any staff member that would like to volunteer is asked to email commencement@regis.edu. I also shared at the Town Hall that Jessica Herrera-Flanigan, Vice President, Public Policy & Philanthropy at Twitter and member of our Board of Trustees, will serve as our Commencement speaker. Student body president Malia Olson will also speak at Sunday’s ceremony. We are looking forward to hearing from both of them! 

With continued gratitude, 

Karen Riley, Provost