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Friday, March 13, 2015

Funding for Enrollment Initiatives

March 10, 2015

Campus Community:

I have good news to share and am pleased to announce that President Kaler has allocated $1.9 million in non-recurring funds for fiscal years 16 and 17 to enhance academic programs and enrollment initiatives at UMD. These are the programs I mentioned during the recent Town Hall meeting that have the potential to bring increased tuition revenues to UMD. The programs include: Cultural Entrepreneurship in the College of Liberal Arts, Graphic Design/Marketing in the School of Fine Arts and the Labovitz School of Business and Economics, expansion of Engineering and Computer Science programs in the Swenson College of Science and Engineering, and funds for marketing targeted to increases in student retention.

This is not the complete assistance that we hope to have from the system leadership team. We are meeting with that group tomorrow to present our budget compact request. As soon as we have more details regarding our recurring budget allocations for next fiscal year, I will let you know.

We appreciate this additional investment in UMD and are pleased the funds are available immediately to begin our planning and implementation of these new initiatives. Thank you again for your suggestions and collaboration as we address our budget challenges.

Sincerely,

Lendley C. Black
Chancellor

New Director of External Affairs

March 13, 2015

To: UMD Campus Community

From: Chancellor Lendley C. Black

Subject: Director of External Affairs

I am pleased to announce a new member of our campus community. After a successful and competitive search, Lynne Williams has accepted the director of External Affairs position and will start on Monday, April 20. Lynne received strong support from the UMD community, and I am pleased that she will be bringing her outstanding media and marketing expertise to this key position on the Chancellor's Cabinet.

Lynne is currently the director of marketing and communications at UW-Superior, a position she has held for five years. She brings with her experience in higher education public relations, legislative relations, marketing, and communications. She graduated from UMD in 2003 with a bachelor of business administration degree in marketing. She is involved in many activities in the Duluth-Superior community, and in 2014 she was a recipient of the Duluth News Tribune 20 Under 40 award.

Lynne asked that we pass along a brief statement on her behalf.
"I am truly ecstatic to return to UMD as a member of your campus community. A career in higher education is an intensely rewarding experience. I am honored be given this opportunity to help share your successes and further the mission of my beloved alma mater. I am counting the days and hours until I start and look forward to meeting and working with each of you."

As director of External Affairs, Lynne will provide leadership and cabinet-level administrative oversight to UMD's media and public relations, community relations, government relations, marketing, communication, publications, photography and KUMD.

I would like to thank the members of the Search Committee (Josh Berlo, Athletics; Tricia Bunten, Development Office; Mary Cameron, Human Resources; Betty Greene, External Affairs; Josh Hamilton, Swenson College of Science and Engineering; Lucy Kragness, Chancellor's Office, Co-Chair; Jeremy Leiferman, Housing; Ian Pannkuk, Admissions; Kristi Schmidt, Essentia Health, Co-Chair; Jennifer Schultz, Labovitz School of Business and Economics; and Chuck Tombarge, University Relations) for sharing their time and their expertise working on this important search.

Please join me in welcoming Lynne to UMD.