Engagement Survey Message from Chancellor Black

Dear Campus Community,

As you know, the University of Minnesota Duluth is in the early stages of a long-term effort to enhance the engagement of faculty and staff. The employee engagement initiative was launched across the University of Minnesota system in 2013 to support the University's commitment to meet its academic and research mission by creating workplaces that energize, empower, and enhance faculty and staff. Engagement profoundly shapes both the quality of the faculty and staff experience, as well as workplace outcomes. It impacts recruiting, retaining, and developing top talent, as well as collaboration and innovation. For individuals, it affects both resilience and wellbeing. One component of this work is an employee engagement survey, which has been administered to faculty and staff annually for the past two years.  For more information visit the University of Minnesota employee engagement website.  

While most of the questions are focused at the department or unit level, it is important for us to look at our overall campus results.  I have attached a copy of the overall UMD faculty and staff engagement survey results.  In the report you will see how each of the metrics compares to the 2013 result and how it compares to the entire university system.  

The survey captured a high level of engagement from faculty and staff in regards to meeting student needs and providing quality services.  For both faculty and staff, there is a high understanding of expected results and a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion. 

Additionally, faculty report:
●    being student focused
●    having enough authority to do their jobs effectively
●    engaging in open and honest communication within their departments
Staff report:
●    providing quality service
●    feeling encouraged to be innovative to find efficiency
●    being treated with respect 

There are also areas of opportunity in regard to workload distribution, support for scholarly activity, eliminating barriers, professional development and survey follow-up. I am committed to working with my leadership team and others across campus to address and remedy these.

This is an important self-reflection process for the campus community and great feedback for me and the leadership team.  Throughout the course of the last couple years, we have worked together through various obstacles. That is clearly reflected in the survey results. However, I also see our campus community is highly motivated and dedicated.  Many of you go above and beyond your normal job responsibilities and your passion is evident.  Thank you.

After UMD received its results in March, each of the Vice Chancellors and unit directors (with 10 or more survey respondents) was provided the reports for their units.  They have and/or will continue to share and discuss those reports with their teams.  It will be up to each unit to customize and determine the best course of action, with a goal to utilize this information to strengthen engagement levels.

The University of Minnesota employee engagement website has a variety of tools, tips and resources to analyze the results and implement action plans.  As well, UMD staff from the Department of Human Resources and Equal Opportunity are available to meet with departments and offices to help interpret and take action on the survey results.  This fall, staff from the system Office of Human Resources will also be on campus to provide informational sessions.  We will keep you posted on those dates as they are arranged.

I hope that this insightful information will spark a wealth of constructive conversations that further your commitment to UMD and my administrative team’s commitment to you.  We have made great strides but can still do better.  This information prepares us to take that step and positively impact our work environment.  

Thank you again for all you do to advance UMD and to create an outstanding environment for our students, faculty, and staff.  

Sincerely,

Lendley C. Black
Chancellor

________________

Chancellor's Office
University of Minnesota Duluth
515 Darland Administration Building
1049 University Drive
Duluth, MN 55812
218.726.7106
218.726.6535 (fax)
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Link to PowerPoint Presentation 

Campus Announcement - Alumni Director Lisa Pratt Retiring

Dear Campus Community:

Lisa Pratt, Director of UMD’s Office of Alumni Relations, has done an outstanding job advancing the participation and engagement of our alumni over the past several years. Lisa is now starting a new chapter in her life and will be retiring from UMD on August 21 in order to spend more time with her three daughters and her grandchildren, who live in the Twin Cities area. A UMD graduate, Lisa joined the Alumni Office in July of 2004 and has proudly served as director for the past three years.

Under her leadership, she increased alumni participation across generations and established the Young Alumni group. She partnered with the collegiate units on alumni initiatives, and she helped establish the Hospitality Tent at the home football games. Under her guidance, revenue and participation increased through a variety of initiatives, from an Alumni Awards Card to enhanced travel opportunities. She also led the increase in donations for the Alumni Association scholarship, which is awarded to the children and grandchildren of UMD alumni. This included successfully spearheading the Division II Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year campaign on campus, with UMD football coaches Curt Wiese and Bob Nielson winning in 2014 and in 2010. This national honor included $50,000 each year to local charities, as well as $20,000 for alumni programming and scholarship support.

Although I hate to see Lisa leave UMD, I fully support her decision to spend more time with her family. We will miss her outstanding contributions in serving UMD’s 70,000 alumni, but she will be a Bulldog forever. We will begin immediately preparing for the search for a new alumni director, and Tricia Bunten, UMD’s Chief Development Officer, will chair the search. Please join me in thanking Lisa for all she has done for UMD.

Sincerely,


Lendley C. Black
Chancellor


Chancellor's Office
University of Minnesota Duluth
515 Darland Administration Building
1049 University Drive
Duluth, MN  55812
218.726.7106
218.726.6535 (fax)

Campus announcement regarding Linda Kinnear and HR&EO

Dear Campus Community:

For many years, Linda Kinnear has provided excellent service to UMD, particularly in academic human resources.  Linda retired last week as an Interim Co-Director of the UMD Office of Human Resources and Equal Opportunity.  I wish to thank Linda for her dedication to UMD and for her leadership during the transition to the new Enterprise System Upgrade Project/Human Resource Management System.  As the ESUP HR campus project lead and HRMS Key Contact, she worked tirelessly to make sure UMD was well represented during the design and implementation phase.

Mary Cameron will continue as Interim Director during the search for a new director.  The Department of Human Resources and Equal Opportunity has many talented staff, and they are already looking at ways to be as effective as possible and to implement efficiencies that are necessary because of recent system and personnel changes.  In addition, we are receiving assistance from the system Office of Human Resources on the Twin Cities campus.  Additional leadership and oversight is being provided by Elaine Hansen and Wendy Lane, the Office of Human Resources consultant assigned to assist UMD.
Meanwhile, the search for the new HR&EO director is progressing well.  Initial interviews are occurring this week, and campus interviews will begin before the end of June. 

Last week, I sent notes of appreciation to our staff members in HR&EO, our HR Stars, Financial Managers Group, and Collegiate Admin Directors.  Like others on campus, they have been working many long hours and doing their best to handle the complexities and uncertainties of the new ESUP/HRMS system.  Please continue to support our valuable staff colleagues as they help us though this transition.

Sincerely,

Lendley C. Black
Chancellor

Chancellor's Office
University of Minnesota Duluth
515 Darland Administration Building
1049 University Drive
Duluth, MN 55812
218.726.7106
218.726.6535 (fax)
Support the U

Campus Budget Update

Dear Campus Community,

I hope you are enjoying the start to your summer.  I wanted to provide an update on the University of Minnesota budget situation and how it will impact UMD. 

On Friday, May 22, Governor Mark Dayton signed the higher education bill into law.  The law provides $30 million in new funding to the University of Minnesota Medical School, $22.2 million for operating costs to enable some tuition relief and $1 million for Alzheimer's disease research.  View the final comparison of proposals this session for University budget funding.

State funds like these from the Legislature are one of several sources that contribute to building UMD’s budget.  While we have not received the final UMD budget allocation numbers, we do have preliminary numbers.  Once again, we find ourselves in a stronger financial position now than where we were a year ago.  However, we still have work to do in order to clear the deficit and balance our budget. 

A few of the key highlights for the UMD FY16 budget allocation include:

• $500,000 in recurring additional support provided by the system for our campus to use toward the structural imbalance.

• $1.6 million recurring money to fund a partial tuition freeze, meaning UMD can expect to see a 1.5% tuition increase in fall 2015.

• $922,000 in additional recurring funding to fund the job family study, fringe simplification and athletic scholarships.

• $100,000 non-recurring increase in funding for Glensheen Mansion for FY16.

In addition, we received $2.4 million in one-time funding for:

• $1.9 million for the Strategic Enrollment Management initiatives.

• $500,000 in operating budget support to lessen the impact of budget reductions.

In the end, I am very pleased to tell you that we are very close to eliminating our structural budget deficit, which is now down to $3.2 million as we begin FY16.  This is a marked improvement from a $6 million deficit last year and the $12 million deficit we faced two years ago.  This has been achieved through a combination of internal budget reductions, increased revenue and additional support from the system.  We continue to make academic quality a primary focus as we solve our budget challenges. 

I want to thank the campus community for working together to find creative ways to operate more effectively.  This has not been easy and we still have hard work ahead of us, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Early in the fall semester, I will finalize the best strategies for resolving the remainder of our budget structural imbalance.  Before final decisions are made, I will seek advice from the academic deans, my senior leadership team, the Strategic Planning and Budget Committee, and other governance groups.  I also want to thank President Kaler and his staff for engaging our campus community in discussion and partnering with us to address the budget challenges.

The University of Minnesota budget will be discussed in a public forum on June 12 at 12:30 p.m in the McNamara Alumni Center on the Twin Cities campus.  For information on how to submit written comments and watch the livestream, click here.  The budget will then move to the Board of Regents for final approval on June 24.

Sincerely,


Lendley C. Black
Chancellor
________________

Chancellor's Office
University of Minnesota Duluth
515 Darland Administration Building
1049 University Drive
Duluth, MN 55812
218.726.7106
218.726.6535 (fax)