Make Your Mark: Angels for a Cause

Students, Faculty and Staff -

Please join me on Saturday, February 9 to attempt to break a world record in the snow while raising money for clean drinking water in Ethiopia.

Make Your Mark: Angels for a Cause will bring thousands of people to campus to break the Guinness Book of World Records' standard for the most snow angels made simultaneously. The current record is 8,963, set in North Dakota.

Duluth can break the record with your help!

UMD has a challenge with the College of St. Scholastica and Lake Superior College to see which college can get the largest percentage of its students, faculty and staff out for the Make Your Mark event. Be sure to wear your UMD colors and tell the gate attendant that you are representing UMD.

Gates to Malosky Stadium will open at 9:30 a.m. and the record attempt will be at 11:00 a.m. in the various athletics fields on the UMD campus.

The suggested donation is $5 for individuals or $10 for families.

The Rotary Club of Duluth and Proctor High School DECA have organized this event, and 100% of the profits raised from Make Your Mark will go to the Global Team for Local Initiatives, an organization that supports the indigenous people in Ethiopia affected by climate change.

You can register in advance online at makeyourmarkduluth.com and get updates on Facebook at www.facebook.com/makeyourmarkduluth. Anyone who registers online will be automatically eligible to win $1,000 in cash. Registration is also available at the door.

I look forward to seeing many of you there to show the world that Those Who Can, Duluth!


Lendley Black
Chancellor

End of Semester Message from Chancellor Black

Dear UMD Campus Community:

Thank you for another great year at UMD! Our students continue to excel in academics, athletics, and many other areas of student life. Our faculty, staff, and alumni are amazing in their achievements and in their support of UMD.

2012 was also a challenging year. We made great progress in our efforts to create a positive and inclusive campus climate, but we had incidents of racism and other harmful behaviors that are counter to our core values and university goals. We will continue to be diligent in advancing equity, diversity and social justice, and we will not stop until we have a safe and welcoming campus for everyone.

I also want to thank you for your involvement in the Duluth community. Every week I hear stories about the difference our faculty and staff are making through research, volunteering, and contributing time, expertise, and financial support to agencies that need our help.

I am proud of our donations to CHUM's Food Shelf and to the Union Gospel Mission during our End of Semester Buffet. You gave 515 pounds of food for CHUM's Food Shelf and $706.44 to the Union Gospel Mission. It would be impossible to meet the needs of our neighbors without the generous support of community partners. Your generosity is greatly appreciated.

You have my best wishes for a safe and enjoyable holiday season. While we celebrate this time of year in many different ways, I hope that you will have a chance to rest with those who are close to you and to work for peace and an end to violence in this country. The children and families who were affected by the tragic shooting in Newtown, Connecticut are in particular need of our best wishes and commitment to create a safer space for everyone.

I look forward to great things in 2013, and I am proud to be your Chancellor and your colleague.

Sincerely,

Lynn Black

Important message affirming our commitment to inclusiveness

Dear Colleagues,

It is incumbent upon us as leaders at the University of Minnesota to create an inclusive culture for our students, faculty and staff and to uphold values of respect, inclusiveness and equity.

At UMD, we have been working for over two years on a major initiative to create a welcoming campus where students live, study and learn from and about each other in a supportive environment. As is the case throughout the system, we are creating a campus culture where we respect and embrace the diversity of individuals, perspectives and ideas. Creating a positive climate is an ongoing process and we will not let setbacks overshadow the many strides forward made by students, faculty and staff.

A video with offensive racial slurs created off campus by a UMD student has had widespread impact throughout the University of Minnesota system. We abhor the hurtful video and immediately addressed the situation at UMD. This is not acceptable behavior for anyone at any time--whether at the university or beyond. Information about individuals involved is considered private so we cannot publicly share details related to the incident.

It is a challenge when individuals join our university community who do not share the UMD core value of inclusiveness. While we have taken many steps to teach others to respect and to embrace the diversity of individuals, perspectives and ideas, changing deep-seated beliefs and behaviors takes time. The video is an extreme example that nonetheless serves as a reminder that bias and discrimination fall along a broad spectrum and that even small instances of prejudice and thoughtlessness can have damaging repercussions.

Advancing equity, diversity and social justice across the board requires persistence and long-term effort at all levels of our campus community. As was shared in Reimagining Equity and Diversity: A Framework for Transforming the University of Minnesota (pdf): "Equity and diversity efforts must be led not only by people with formal authority, but also by faculty, staff, students and administrators at every level of operation and responsibility." At UMD, our action plan can be found here: http://www.d.umn.edu/chancellor/climate. Today, we take this opportunity to renew this promise made to our campus community and beyond, and look forward to working with all of you to realize our goals.

Sincerely,

Lendley Black
Chancellor

Director of External Affairs Announcement

November 26, 2012

To: UMD Campus Community

From: Chancellor Lendley C. Black

Subject: Director of External Affairs

I am pleased to announce that Twin Ports native Gina Katzmark will join UMD as the director of External Affairs, effective December 17. Gina 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.

Gina currently serves as the associate director of communications at Wake Forest University Schools of Business in Winston-Salem, N.C. A former television journalist, Gina began her career in Duluth as a reporter/producer and served in various managerial roles over 15 years including executive producer, managing editor and news director.

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

"I am honored to return home to serve as a passionate advocate for the people and programs of UMD," said Katzmark. "I look forward to being an ambassador of the 'Those Who Can, Duluth' brand while sharing UMD's success stories with the rest of the world."

Katzmark earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and is currently a Master of Business Administration degree candidate at Wake Forest University. She is the daughter of Edward and Kathleen Katzmark of Superior. She and her husband, Joshua Schmidt, will be living in Duluth.

I would like to thank the members of the Search Committee (Tricia Bunten, Development Office; Mary Cameron, Human Resources; Mark Emmel, Lion Hotel Group; Betty Greene, External Affairs; Lucy Kragness, Chancellor's Office, Chair; Jim Riehl, Swenson College of Science and Engineering; and Mimmu Salmela, KUMD) for sharing their time and their expertise working on this important search.

Please join me in welcoming Gina to UMD.

Racist Video

November 15, 2012

To: UMD Campus Community

From: Chancellor Lendley C. Black

A video with unfortunate racist content has been brought to the attention of the University of Minnesota Duluth administration. We have seen the video; we abhor it. This is unacceptable behavior for anyone, and we at UMD are extremely unhappy to be associated with it in any way.

We take appropriate action in instances like this, but information about individual students is private, and UMD cannot share any information about any particular student. However, we can affirm our disapproval of the video, and reaffirm our goal of providing an environment where students live, study, and learn from and about each other in an inclusive and supportive way. We hope that out of this distressing incident will at least come some broader understanding and personal growth.

Campus Memo

Dear Campus Community,

I hope you are having a productive and enjoyable summer! As I near the end of my second year at UMD, I would like to thank you for your continued support and for the outstanding work you do every day on behalf of our students and to further our research and public engagement mission. There have been several administrative changes at UMD over the past two years, and many of you have been involved in helping shape my Chancellor's Cabinet team. While other changes in the vice chancellor areas may be announced within the next few months, I wish to share the following updates.

Bill Wade is stepping down as Vice Chancellor for Advancement on July 31. He will take on a new assignment as a major donor development officer and will continue to oversee temporarily the operations of the KUMD radio station. We will celebrate Bill's dedication to UMD at a special campus reception on September 7, with a formal invitation in August. During his tenure at UMD, Bill has overseen university relations, alumni, development, KUMD, and intercollegiate athletics. His many accomplishments and contributions to UMD will be highlighted in future communications regarding the September 7 reception.

After looking closely at the campus organizational structure, I have decided to make the following changes to improve administrative efficiency, effectiveness, and excellence:

• The Vice Chancellor position that Bill Wade held will be eliminated.

• Lucy Kragness has been promoted to Chief of Staff/Associate to the Chancellor, and in this role she will assist me with a wide range of operational issues and projects to ensure the effectiveness of the Chancellor's office and of all units reporting directly to the Chancellor.

• The Development and Alumni offices will continue to work together as an Office of Advancement. Advancement, Athletics, and External Affairs will report directly to the Chancellor with operational oversight and assistance from Lucy Kragness.

• A national search to refill the Director of External Affairs position will begin this month.

Many of you have already met Mike Seymour, who began July 2 as the Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations. Please join me in welcoming Mike to campus.

I appreciate how well the campus community has come together to provide a smooth transition for me and for my new administrative team. Working together, we will continue to make significant progress on the Strategic Plan and provide the excellent academic experience that our students expect and deserve.

Sincerely,

Chancellor Lendley C. Black

Chancellor's Announcement: Faculty Fellow for Strategic Planning

Dear Campus Community:

I am pleased to announce that Dr. John A. Arthur has been chosen to be the new Chancellor's Faculty Fellow for Strategic Planning effective August 1, 2012. Dr. Arthur is well qualified to take our planning initiatives to the next stages of implementation and to provide a faculty perspective to the Chancellor's Cabinet. Dr. Arthur is a professor of sociology-anthropology and is the founding director of the African and African American Studies Program. He has been a faculty member at UMD since 1993, and he has served in several administrative positions including as department chair and as director of the Study in England program. He has a Ph.D. in sociology from Pennsylvania State University, a master's degree from the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, Canada, and a law and sociology degree from the University of Science and Technology in Ghana.

Dr. Arthur will work closely this fall with Dr. Denny Falk, the outgoing Faculty Fellow. I would like to recognize the outstanding work of Dr. Falk over the past two years. He assisted me in each phase of creating the strategic plan and was a tireless advocate for an inclusive planning process. He has also made several other contributions to my administrative team. I would also like to thank Professor John Hamlin, Instructor Michael Mullins, Associate Professor Joyce Strand, and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Andrea Schokker for assisting me with the selection of the new Faculty Fellow.

Please join me in congratulating Dr. Arthur on his new appointment and in thanking Dr. Falk for his many contributions to UMD.

Sincerely,

Chancellor Lendley C. Black