A Letter from Dr. Karen Riley
Colleagues,
I hope this letter finds you well. May was an event filled month. Commencement weekend was a wonderful way to start the month — and what a joyful time. Thank you again to everyone who worked so hard to make it a success. A special thank you to Jane Urquhart, Commencement Coordinator and Cathy Gorrell, Registrar, who worked tirelessly to pull together thousands of details, and I am very grateful. I also wanted to personally thank our faculty marshals. There were too many hugs, fist bumps and high fives to count. We also received a great deal of feedback on ways to improve the ceremony and affiliated activities and are already planning changes for next year.
Although May started off beautifully, devastating events since then have reminded us not only of life’s fragility, but also the crucial nature of our mission to educate in a way that transforms. There truly are no words to adequately describe the horrific nature of these violent acts in New York, Texas, and California. A member of our community shared with me the powerful words from the Executive Director of the Office of Ignatian Spirituality following the shooting in Uvalde, and I wanted to share them will you as well. Let us all take heed of this message - individually and collectively.
“Today, I am asking God to allow my sorrow, compassion, and shame to change me, because what happened in Uvalde will happen again if we do not allow ourselves, as members of this society, to be radically changed. This is who we are today. By the grace of God, may we be different tomorrow.”
We pray for the local communities and the families of those whose lives were taken through these senseless acts and that we as a society learn from these events. Their pain and loss will not fade with the changing news cycle. Although we may not know these individuals personally, these events can be triggering and as such please take care of yourselves and one another. I also know that many of you support our students through these challenging times. We are all grateful for your efforts and again want to ensure that you are getting the support that you need.
Please take advantage of the resources that we have available.
Regis Center for Counseling and Family Therapy | Regis University
Office of Counseling and Personal Development | Regis University
COVID-19
Recent COVID-19 levels have also continued to remind us that we are not yet living in a post-pandemic world. Cases are on the rise around the U.S. and the world. We are monitoring both local and national case rates, and will be in touch if there is anything requiring us to change course or to pivot. Please remember to stay home if you are ill and to take the proper precautions if you have been exposed.
Closing the Loop
A special thank you to those of you who provided feedback and suggestions through the last Provost Office Feedback Survey. The importance of feedback when embracing a growth mindset cannot be overstated, and part of the process is applying the feedback and communicating broadly. You may recall that the last edition of the Digest focused on three themes: Communication, Compensation, and Collaboration. We will follow up on a few items from these categories, as well as address some feedback that was more granular.
Communication: A very specific question was raised about streamlining communication around upcoming events. We wanted to update folks that MarCom is working on an Events Calendar that will be live later this summer.
Collaboration: We are moving toward the phase of the strategic framework process that will be analyzing the SWOT data that came in. One particularly salient area of focus remains creating opportunities for us to work together. I wanted to make sure the larger community was aware that the President’s office assembled a day-long Leadership Retreat in early May, bringing together the Cabinet with the Deans (college and school) and the Assistant/Associate Vice Presidents. This was an intentional move to create opportunities for alignment and collaboration. I think all who were present would agree that important steps forward were taken that day. This group will gather again before Fall semester classes begin.
Compensation Study:
We continue to work on the compensation study. Yesterday was the first open forum and there was good energy and positive questions and suggestions. We will continue to work together to address concerns and questions. Again, I thank you all for your patience and partnership as we move forward.
New themes/suggestions:
The prioritization of research & scholarship was mentioned a few times. I’m pleased to report that after consulting with several faculty groups (including those involved in rank & tenure) to re-envision what research & scholarship support looks like at Regis. We have reconceptualized the job description for the new Associate Provost for Research and Scholarship and there will be a posting soon. Please reach out to me at provost@regis.edu with any questions.
There seems to be good energy around building support for those holding leadership positions such as Chairs and Program Leads. A date has been set for the first gathering of this group: August 17th from 8:30am-1pm. A collaborative process for soliciting the most crucial topics for the day is underway. If you have any questions, please reach out to Dr. Heidi Blair at hblair002@regis.edu.
One person provided feedback that the Provost’s team seems distant from what happens in the classrooms and offices. We discussed this and will be working on setting up some classroom visits for team members. We want to be respectful of your time and do not want to disrupt the learning experience, so please let us know what times and days would work for all of you and we will prioritize these visits. Please send classroom, lab, meeting days and times to provost@regis.edu . We welcome your continued suggestions on ways to better understand what happens in classrooms and offices in your area.
Questions were also raised about affiliate faculty and the integral role they play at the university. We hosted a Faculty Office Hours, specifically for affiliate faculty and will continue this practice next year. We are also adding this to our Deans’ Council agenda. The sharing of best practices within each college, as well as bringing in voices from areas of the university where affiliate faculty feel engaged and supported will be crucial. This will be a topic of discussion for the Chairs and Program Leads as well.
COVID-19 response was also raised as an area for improvement in this feedback cycle. I thought it might be worthwhile to re-share some information about classroom ventilation that might offer some perspective or insight about the way our classroom HVAC systems operate. This information originally appeared in the Provost’s Digest on 10/7/21. A special thanks to Mike Redmond for sharing this information. The systems we have in our classrooms, labs and conference rooms are on all force air return systems. The return air is mixed with fresh economized air before it is resupplied to the rooms. We have 100% air exchange 11 to 13 cycles a day. To keep these systems working effectively and efficiently, it is important that we not open the windows or keep the doors open. As I mentioned above, we will continue to monitor closely the COVID situation and make pivots if they are necessary.
Another topic raised in the feedback was around a culture of blame as an area of struggle. It is not uncommon in times of high stress to point fingers to blame others for issues we struggle with collectively. However, it is not a healthy approach and tends to create far more problems than it solves. I would encourage all of us to interrupt this narrative when we hear or see it at play. While we might have different approaches to it, our work is shared work—we are working toward the same mission.
Finally, a few pieces of feedback were directed at departments on campus not under the purview of the Provost, so these comments will be re-directed to the appropriate Vice-President or Associate Vice-President as needed. As an example, there were a few questions about budget-setting for individual departments and the quick turnaround needed on this fiscal year’s budget. These questions/concerns will be brought up with the University Budget Committee (UBC) and with the Cabinet.
We will continue to solicit feedback and address the themes and topics that are on people’s minds, and will do our best to close the loop and update you on the efforts to address your concerns.
As mentioned previously, the Provost’s Digest will come out less frequently during the summer months- with just one edition per month. If you have something you’d like us to include, please reach out to provost@regis.edu. The next edition will come out in late June.
The cadence of the school calendar for our various programs and activities means that the summer months are a mix of endings and beginnings, planning and executing, teaching and synthesizing. Your collective dedication to our students and to our community is not dictated by the calendar nor is it limited to traditional methods of engagement. “Study cultivates student’s abilities to keep thinking, feeling and imagining far beyond their years on a Jesuit campus” virtual or physical (Hendrickson, S.J, 2022). Thank you for all that you do to transform lives.
With my gratitude,
Karen