A Letter from Dr. Karen Riley

Good afternoon Colleagues,

“Love ought to show itself in deeds more than in words.” ~ Ignatius of Loyola

I hope that you all had a restful and regenerative holiday break, and now we find ourselves in December.  December is an exceptionally busy time, characterized by overfilled schedules and joyful anticipation. Increased time commitments coupled with anticipation can morph quickly into anxiety and stress. It is important to remember to take care of each other and to take care of yourselves. As Ignatius states so succinctly, it is not what we say but what we do that truly reflects our mission and our values.

Our students are finishing up the semester and they are particularly in need of our support. Thank you to the Library faculty and staff, Student Affairs, and leaders within each of the colleges for your intentional approaches to decreasing the stress of finals for our students. Thank you for all that you do to support them.

A couple quick updates. In late November we had the ABET accreditation site visit for Anderson College of Business and Computing for three of their computer science programs. I want to thank Dean Shari Plantz-Masters and her team for their time and extensive work. We will receive the final report within a few months. Thank you to the members of the Provost’s Council for their work on exploring a University Wide Senate. They will be distributing a summary communication regarding next steps. 

Congratulations to Heidi Barker and her team for their work on a proposal to fund a BCBA partnership program with Firefly Autism. They received a $150k gift from Gary Community Investments. This was a team effort with participation from Advancement and RHCHP. The group is continuing to fundraise for this innovative program.

Finally, I hope that you will all join us for Lessons and Carols and for the President’s Christmas Party. It is a chance for us to come together to celebrate the joy of the season and to spend time together. 

Karen