Chancellor's Announcement: Faculty Fellow for Intercultural Initiatives

Dear Campus Community:

I am pleased to announce that Dr. Paula Pedersen, Assistant Professor of Psychology, has accepted the new cabinet-level position of Faculty Fellow for Intercultural Initiatives. In addition to being an accomplished teacher, scholar and diversity trainer, Paula is a licensed psychologist and carries the Intercultural Development Inventory Administration and Interpretation Certificate.

Paula has served on the Campus Climate Change Team, Diversity Commission, GLBT Advisory Board and University of Minnesota Intercultural Competence Work Group.

She helped spearhead the theme of "how did you come to be here?" bringing together the community and campus in an exploration of cultural self-awareness and identity. Paula has done significant research on intercultural development as a student learning outcome in study abroad and first year experience programs.

Her dedication to diversity, inclusion and intercultural understanding goes far beyond UMD. She works closely with ISD #709 on helping the intercultural leadership and curriculum integration efforts in Duluth high schools. Paula is well known in the community for her involvement in organizations such as Mentor Duluth, YMCA and True North Americorps.

In her role as Faculty Fellow for Intercultural Initiatives, Paula will help facilitate campus climate training and development activities for faculty, staff, administration and students. She will oversee the planning, execution and assessment of campus-wide intercultural initiatives, work on increasing intercultural student learning outcomes through the International and Study Abroad programs and serve as a key community liaison.

The Faculty Fellow for Intercultural Initiatives is a one-year renewable appointment that is part faculty and part administrative. The Fellow will serve as co-chair for the Campus Climate Change Team along with Susana Pelayo-Woodward.

Please join me in welcoming Paula to this new role. I look forward to having her expertise and perspective on the campus senior leadership team. She will begin in August.

Sincerely,

Lendley C. Black
Chancellor

Campus Governance

Dear Campus Community:

We are pleased to be moving forward with a new governance structure. We will need to move quickly in order for committees to begin their work. A draft version of bylaws will be started over the summer in the EVCAA office. The bylaws form the basic structure describing each of the committees, membership, how bylaws are amended, etc. The actual "working rules" (or operational guidelines) that each committee follows will be developed by the committee membership.

The bylaws will be posted for review and comment immediately upon return fall semester. The process for populating committees will begin shortly thereafter, with a goal launch date of October 1. We look forward to working together as a campus community to put our new governance system in place. Thank you all for your engagement in this important process.

Sincerely,

Lendley C. Black
Chancellor

Program Prioritization Initiative

Dear Campus Community:

I wish to share with you plans for a new Program Prioritization initiative at UMD. As we reflect on the past year and look to years ahead, I think one thing that we all expect is a first-class educational experience for UMD students combined with financial stability for our university.

Through this Program Prioritization initiative, we will closely examine the programs, courses, and services that we deliver to see how they align with our mission and how they position UMD for growth. The goal of this initiative is to use limited financial resources in ways that will best meet the needs of our students and our community, as outlined in our Strategic Plan.

This initiative is timely given lower state funding over time, a decline in last year's new student enrollment, a challenging economy, and a shrinking Minnesota high school student population. We need to be relevant, we need to be mission-driven, and we need to fiscally responsible.

To truly utilize our resources to their fullest potential, we need to review all of our programs in relation to how they support UMD's mission. This includes all programs and services on campus - academic and non-academic. Instead of moving forward without the resources to support programs to their full potential, we can provide much needed resources to our priority areas. While the budget situation underscores the need for prioritization, it is also crucial to evaluate our priorities with respect to quality, demand, reputation, and many other areas.

I will be leading UMD through this Program Prioritization initiative with the help of the Vice Chancellors, Deans, and Directors, but everyone on campus will be involved at their program level. Criteria and weights for the criteria will be developed collaboratively in alignment with UMD's strategic plan, mission, and vision, with an additional focus on financial sustainability.

We will all be in this together. This initiative will spark innovative thinking and new approaches to accomplishing our mission and vision. We will emerge from this activity with a stronger, more robust UMD.

Sincerely,

Lendley C. Black
Chancellor