Campus Wide Meet-and Greet with President Kaler on May 2

Dear Campus Community,

On Monday, May 2^nd President Eric Kaler will be visiting UMD. All campus community members are cordially invited to an End of Academic Year Celebration meet and greet with President Kaler and Chancellor Black on Monday, May 2, from 2 - 3 pm in the Kirby Rafters.

We hope you will join us.

Sincerely, 

Lendley C. Black

Chancellor

Power Outage 25 April

Hello,

 

As you know, campus experienced a power outage for about 2.5 hours yesterday. I wanted to take a minute to provide you with a quick update and overview of the situation.  

 

At around 10:00 a.m. on Monday, April 25 there was an unexpected power outage to most of the UMD campus. Some of our community neighbors also lost power during this time.  

 

Our facilities team immediately made contact with MN Power.  MN Power did their best to assess the situation and work as quickly as possible to remedy it.  The original source of the outage appears to have been a fallen tree.  MN Power provided us updates throughout the morning, but we were not 100% sure of the timeline to restore power so our updates to campus were kept more general.

 

Campus leadership pulled together a group to assess the situation, discuss scenarios and design plans. Given that this is our last week of class and we expected a relatively short outage, the decision was made not to cancel classes at that time.  As in any situation, we continued to monitor and make adjustments as needed.  

 

For the most part, our backup systems worked well. Emergency generators kicked in to provide emergency lighting and mostly uninterrupted network access.  Individuals who were trapped in elevators received the notices and were able to communicate their location. Situations like this allow us to implement our operational continuity plans and identify areas for improvement.  For example, we were able to identify areas that need additional wireless coverage, and improper emergency lighting in certain areas of campus.

 

I want to thank you all for your patience. From Dining Services who quickly worked to adapt their menu, to Facilities Management who jumped into action, to ITSS ensuring minimal network interruption - several areas of campus demonstrated quick responsive and expertise. Many of you were able to be creative and figure out ways to still provide instruction and services.  Thank you for your efforts.  

 

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me or one of the Vice Chancellors.

 

Thanks,

 

Lendley C. Black

Chancellor

Update on retention, marketing, and climate survey

Dear colleagues,

As we near the end of the semester, it is that busy and exciting time of year. So many things have been going on it is hard to cover them all but I want to share a few with you.

On April 10, the impressive student award nominees and winners were celebrated and they never fail to amaze me. Speaking of award winners, LSBE financial markets junior Travis Eisenbacher not only won UMD student employee of the year but he also won Minnesota's student employee of the year. Read about his story . Our dance team took second place at nationals. And our engineering students showcased their PyroGlove Air Force invention project to local media.  Yesterday, I saw an outstanding UMD theatre production of Spring Awakening and you can watch the show trailer. There are several other fine arts performances and additional campus events over the next few weeks, and I encourage you to support them.

There has also been a lot of activity and progress with our faculty administrative restructuring task force.  I expect to receive their recommendation this week and will communicate more about that after I've had a chance to review their recommendations.  

Retention Update

Speaking of students, I'd like to share an opportunity from our Strategic Enrollment Management committee and encourage your participation. Visit the SEM website to learn about their call for grant proposals to support action items aligned with improving student success and retention. Your efforts in this area will help us achieve our goal to increase first to second year undergraduate student retention from the current 76% to our goal of 80% by Fall 2018. Proposals are due May 2.

I also want to thank everyone involved in helping to create and implement action items as part of our retention efforts under the 4-Pros framework . There is a lot of impressive work being done to strengthen student success and I look forward to continuing to watch these and other initiatives unfold. Please take a few minutes to review the SEM retention action plan and if you have questions, ideas, or would like further discussion please contact Mary Keenan.

Marketing Update

Along with retention and recruitment comes messaging. As you know, we are working on a new UMD marketing campaign to replace Those Who Can, Duluth. The University Marketing and Public Relations office in conjunction with Admissions has been working with an advertising agency to develop three potential concepts for our new campaign. Efforts have been underway all semester and some of you may have already seen the creative concepts.

At the moment and for the next couple weeks, the team will continue to share and collect feedback on three different marketing concepts.  Both prospective and current students along with faculty and staff will be involved in this process. Some of you have been in discussions about this already and the rest of you will be provided an electronic survey with the creative samples for your feedback. You are our brand ambassadors and we need your input and support in this effort.

Climate Survey - Save September 13

As well, I wanted to put a date on your calendars for the Fall.  The Campus Climate Survey Working Group has been working on plans to share the results of our campus climate survey.  We have flagged Tuesday, September 13 as the date to conduct two sessions for students, faculty, and staff to learn and discuss the results.  More information on time and location to come.  

I hope you all have a wonderful week and enjoy the nice weather.  

Sincerely,

Lendley C. Black

Chancellor

Core Values, budget, and legislative advocacy

Dear colleagues, 

 

I hope you have all been enjoying the variety of weather lately.  I spent the week visiting with several alumni and donors in California. I also attended the American Council on Education annual meeting and the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education conference where Susana Woodward, Paula Pedersen and I presented and discussed UMD's campus climate change processes. 

 

Speaking at the conference was a great experience and it reminded me of our strategic priorities, campus climate, and core values.  We have made great progress but still have opportunity for more growth and development.  I often refer back to UMD's core values, as they also resonate with my personal values.  I'd like to remind all of us about our core values and ask we be mindful of how we practice them, especially in times of transition. 

 

 UMD Core Values

To promote student success and to enrich the educational experience, students, staff and faculty at UMD strive to learn, work, and live in accord with the following core values:

• Learning. We educate students through an integrative learning-centered environment that fosters a lifelong pursuit of wisdom.
• Discovery. We discover, create, and share knowledge.
• Engagement. We actively collaborate with each other and the larger community to identify and achieve common goals.
• Inclusiveness. We respect and embrace the diversity of individuals, perspectives, and ideas and promote social justice.
• Sustainability. We balance current environmental, economic, and social needs with those of future generations.
• Integrity. We adhere to the highest ethical standards and take responsibility for our ideas and actions.
• Excellence. We achieve excellence through creativity, continuous improvement, and innovation.

 

In regards to the budget discussion, we have presented our proposed framework to U of M administration and it was well received.  We are continuing to move ahead with the restructuring task forces.  Both the faculty and staff task forces have been asked to perform very important work and I am grateful for the individuals who are generously providing their time and talent.  The task force membership consists of:

 

Restructuring faculty task force:

Facilitator: Brian Levin-Stankevich, Interim EVCAA

Jefferson Campbell, Music, SFA

Priscilla Day, Social Work, CEHSP

Roxanne Gould, Education, CEHSP

David Gore, Communication, CLA

Morris Levy, Applied Human Sciences, CEHSP

Jim Klueg, Art & Design, SFA

Jennifer Mencl, Management Studies, LSBE

Marc Seiger, Physics, SCSE

Julie Slowiak, Psychology, CEHSP

Maureen Tobin Stanley, Foreign Languages & Literatures, CLA

Rebecca Teasley, Civil Engineering, SCSE

Rajiv Vaiyanathan, Marketing, LSBE

 

Restructuring staff task force:

Facilitator: VCFO Steve Keto

Curt Albertson, CLA

Tracey Bolen LSBE

Sue Bosell (co-leader), Controller's Office

Stacy Crawford, SFA

Colleen Dennie , SFA

Jennifer Gilles, Academic Affairs

Joseph Grant, LSBE

Michelle Hatcher, SCSE

Lynne Hegrenes, CEHSP

Geraldine Hughes, CLA

Nancy Kienzle, SFA

Frank Maragi, SCSE

Ann Miller, CEHSP

Lori Roberts, CLA

Connie Rosandich, SCSE

Greg Sather (co-leader), Office of Budget and Analysis

Sanna Shields , SCSE

Georgina Spears, LSBE

 

These groups jointly met for the first time Thursday.  They have been given a goal to present me with a potential framework for moving forward with the restructure by the end of the semester.  Work will continue over the next year and we are just starting to lay out a timeline and process with these teams.

   

In closing, I want to talk quickly about legislative advocacy.  The legislative session kicked off last week and we have had a solid presence of UMD faculty, staff, and students at the Capitol making meaningful connections and advocating on behalf of UMD.  SCSE student Alex King joined President Kaler earlier this week at a press conference to promote our Chemistry and Advanced Materials Science building.  

 

These efforts will continue.  Next week is Duluth-St.Louis County at the Capitol, where we will have a mix of campus and community members participating. Tuesday, March 29 is Support the U Day, a systemwide legislative advocacy event.  On Wednesday, April 13 is Bulldog Lobby Days, an event organized by Student Association. 

 

Being an advocate for UMD and supporting our legislative priorities helps to further enhance and support our mission.  Therefore, the university supports your involvement in these efforts.  The expectation is that employees interested in attending the event should contact their supervisor ahead of time to see if arrangements can be made to participate.  If you are interested and have approval to attend, please complete the Bulldog Lobby Days sign-up. Transportation is provided. 

 

Have a safe and enjoyable weekend,

 

Lendley C. Black

Chancellor

Audio Town Hall Meeting on February 23, 2016

Campus Community,

Talking Points

UMD Budget Strategy

February 23, 2016 Town Hall Meeting

In general:

• Since the previous town hall meetings, we have built a framework that needs broad faculty, staff and student feedback and assistance in working out the details.  
• While innovative solutions take time, we will balance that with the need to keep moving forward and to focus on UMD’s bright future.
• Change is difficult, and we need to work together to undertake the budget-balancing actions by continuing to provide quality teaching and learning, relevant research and scholarship, and meaningful public engagement. This will be accomplished by ensuring and enhancing the student experience.
• We have made great progress in balancing our budget over the past few years, and the end is in sight.
• We must continue to be guided by our Strategic Plan priorities.
• After the February 23 Town Hall meeting, we will revise the framework and submit it to the system leadership as part of our budget compact request. We will not submit specifics about administrative restructuring. Task forces will be established to review administrative restructuring proposals, with final decisions anticipated the end of fiscal year 2017.

Click here for the audio for the Town Hall meeting.

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)

Update on budget deficit resolution strategy

Dear colleagues,

I am writing today to update you on our strategy to address UMD's remaining budget deficit. We have had several productive conversations over the past weeks through the town hall meetings and discussions with the Strategic Planning and Budget Committee. Through these processes, we have fine tuned what I believe is a solid strategy for balancing our budget while ensuring minimal impact to students and their learning experience.  

I would like the campus community to review our proposed budget strategy in preparation for a more detailed discussion with faculty, staff, and Student Association leadership in our campus Town Hall meeting February 23.  As a reminder, that meeting will take place Tuesday, February 23 from 3-4:30 p.m. in the Kirby Ballroom.  Please note that there are still discussions to have, feedback to receive, details, and logistics for us to work out before we are ready to implement this plan.

There are six components to our budget strategy:

1. Required savings budget process
2. Academic administrative restructuring
3. Academic program and course offering optimization
4. Targeted reductions, tuition, revenue generation
5. Enrollment growth and reinvestment
6. Deficit reduction and investment fund transfer (DRIFT)

To read a brief overview of each of these components, please see our proposed plan for resolving the structural budget issue.  

Next steps include discussing this again with the Strategic Planning and Budget Committee in two weeks, presenting and discussing with the campus community in the town hall, making any necessary changes, submitting this to the University of Minnesota as part of our compact budget request in early March, and initiating specific tactics for implementation.  

As always, please feel free to contact myself or one of the Vice Chancellors if you have questions.  

Sincerely,

Lendley C. Black

Chancellor

Update on diversity, budget, and enrollment. Town Hall Feb 23

Dear colleagues,

This is a busy and important semester for campus, and I am encouraged by the conversations we've had and your willingness to work together.  I'd like to provide you with updates on a few of our strategic priorities around diversity, budget, enrollment and the EVCAA search.

With regards to diversity, the staff members in the Office of Cultural Diversity have developed a new name that is more reflective of their work with students and on campus. The office will be known as the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

Goal 2 of our strategic plan calls for creating a positive and inclusive campus climate. We've made progress in achieving Goal 2, and I've been working on a plan to ensure that this strategic priority continues to be a focus for our campus.

I am happy to announce Susana Pelayo-Woodward's role to lead university-wide diversity and inclusion efforts has been expanded from 10% of her time to 30%.  She reports to me for this expanded 30% and to Vice Chancellor Lisa Erwin for her other 70% (providing leadership to the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, which will remain part of Student Life).  Susana will also be joining the Chancellor's Senior Leadership Council.  Please join me in congratulating Susana.  I am confident she will do a great job as our primary diversity leader.  

Paula Pedersen has done tremendous work in advancing our campus community in goal 2 and cultural competency and I thank her for the work she is playing as Faculty Fellow for Intercultural Initiatives.  While her faculty fellow position is set to expire this summer, she will continue to work with Susana.  Paula will return to the classroom in the fall, while receiving reassign time to continue diversity and inclusion training and development for campus.  Please join me in thanking Paula for all her work and continued leadership as we move forward.

I want to thank the campus community for their involvement, powerful discussion and feedback received at the recent faculty and staff town halls.  I will have the opportunity to meet with the Student Association next week. The Strategic Planning and Budget Committee met last week and is meeting again next week to continue discussing campus feedback and possible next steps.  I will continue to push hard on identifying a plan to address our remaining deficit. 

Please mark your calendars and join me on Tuesday, February 23 from 3-4:30 p.m. in the Kirby Ballroom for our scheduled campus-wide town hall meeting.  At this meeting I will present to campus more information on our budget strategy moving forward. 

I am also pleased to share with you some great news about special funding that we are receiving to support our recruitment and retention efforts.  The University of Minnesota is allocating recurring funds to all system campuses designated to support retention and graduation goals.  As part of this effort, UMD will annually receive $650,000 to enhance our admissions, financial aid, and marketing efforts.  This is a great example of how we will continue to get strategic support from the U of M as we continue to make progress on our budget deficit. 

As you know, recruitment and retention are strategic priorities for UMD, and we all play a role in helping make a positive impact.  In 2015, we saw a 12.4% increase with 14,480 prospective students and their guests visiting UMD.  Congratulations, especially to our admissions team, for providing this solid quality work to generate interest in UMD.  We are also seeing positive signs in our application numbers for next fall, but we must remain focused on student retention to reach our enrollment targets and to give our students the best experience possible. 

Admissions hosts visitors on an almost daily basis.  In addition, you may have seen and will continue to see the following events on campus: 

• Admitted Student Days

         January 29 Engineering / CS / Math
         February 5 CEHSP / SFA
         February 12 CLA
         February 19 SCSE Sciences
         February 26 LSBE

•  Junior Day- February 15

Please be aware of these important events and how you can help support them.  For example, greet and welcome the visitors that you see to campus and be prepared to talk about your department/offices "Points of Pride."

Here is a link to the search committee members for the Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs.  This is a large committee and it well represents the faculty and other key components of Academic Affairs.  The committee begins its work next week. 

Well, this was a lengthy message, but filled with a lot of positive momentum.  As always, please contact me or one of the Vice Chancellors if you have questions or thoughts on these or other matters.

Sincerely,

Lendley C. Black
Chancellor