It’s More Than That, Campus Climate Campaign

Dear Colleagues,
 

As we continue to take actions to improve our campus climate, it is clear this work is complex and multi-layered. It’s More Than That focuses on the complexities of our strategic plan Goal 2 as we advance equity, diversity, inclusiveness, and social justice within the campus community.

This campaign highlights many of the projects, efforts, and initiatives already underway at UMD. It also challenges us to support the work happening around campus and to find new ways to create a more inclusive, safe, and engaging campus.
 

Through this initiative, we invite all members of the campus community to explore topics of diversity, inclusion, bullying, and more – with greater depth. We often do not understand the full story of someone’s reality, because it’s complex. It’s more than what appears on the surface. It’s More Than That!

In this email we are introducing It’s More Than That to the campus community, raising awareness about campus climate initiatives, and asking for your support.

We invite you to start by exploring the It’s More Than That website where you can find more information about the campaign. We encourage you to explore the suggested actions steps, give them some thought, and take your own pledge indicating “What will I do to further my own growth and action toward Goal 2 at UMD?” This pledge will allow you to coordinate with colleagues across campus for support and to share accountability using the resources provided.

We want to recognize BlackBird Revolt, a Duluth based branding and media design company who are dedicated to promoting social change through conscious creativity, for designing this campaign.

Sincerely,
 

Chancellor Lendley Black

Susana Pelayo-Woodward and Paula J. Pedersen (Campus Climate Co-Chairs)

Faculty, Staff, and Years of Service Awards Ceremony

Dear Campus Community,

Please join us for the Faculty, Staff, and Years of Service awards ceremony.

Wednesday, April 24, 2019
3:00 - 4:00 pm
Kirby Ballroom

Awards include:
Faculty Advisor Awards
Graduate Faculty Advisor Award
Tezla Teacher/Scholar Award
Outstanding Staff Awards
Outstanding Staff Team Award
Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching
Chancellor's Award for Distinguished Research/Creative Activity
Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Public Service
Faculty & Staff Years of Service Awards for 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40+

Refreshments will be served. Please join us in celebrating the accomplishments of our UMD employee community!

Sincerely,

Lendley Black
Chancellor

Campus Update: UMD's Budget Status

Dear Colleagues:

I hope you had a Happy New Year, and I wish you the best for an outstanding spring semester.  As we enter the second half of this academic year, I wish to give you an update and review of the status of UMD’s budget and strategies for moving forward.

From 2001 to 2011, UMD’s undergraduate and graduate enrollment grew by 1,876 students.  During this time of student growth, the undergraduate resident tuition rate also increased significantly from $5,070 to $11,322 for fall and spring semesters combined.  However, UMD’s base operating budget did not grow substantially, and UMD became over-dependent on tuition revenues to fund basic operating expenses.

Our enrollment declined in Fiscal Years 2012 and 2013 occurred on the heels of cuts in state funding for all University of Minnesota campuses.  As a result of these declines in both state and tuition revenues, coupled with required expenses which were out of our control, we had a structural imbalance of $9.4 million by the end of Fiscal Year 2014.

That $9.4 million structural imbalance has been reduced to an estimated $3.9 million projected for the end of Fiscal Year 2019 (June 30, 2019).  This drastic reduction is the result of several actions taken at UMD and assistance from the University of Minnesota leadership in the Twin Cities.  First, UMD’s enrollment has rebounded over the past few years, and we are working diligently to continue an incremental enrollment increase over the next several years.  This has provided much needed increases in tuition revenues.  In addition, we have cut expenses and made difficult decisions, including reducing the numbers of faculty, staff and administrative positions at UMD.  Specifically, we reduced our recurring expenses by $4.1 million Fiscal Years 2018 and 2019.  These cuts are in addition to over $2 million in additional personnel reductions made since Fiscal Year 2014.  In addition, we have benefited greatly from yearly assistance from the University of Minnesota senior leadership, which has provided additional allocations to UMD to help reduce the structural imbalance, increase funds for facility renovations, and provide additional allocations for critical initiatives.

UMD’s senior leadership is working with our colleagues in the Twin Cities on a multi-year plan to resolve the structural imbalance within the next few years.  Although incremental enrollment increases help our financial bottom line, we cannot solve this challenge with enrollment increases alone.  Our tuition is high compared to our major competitors, and so tuition increases are not the answer either.  Hence, we have had productive discussions about a preliminary draft proposal to increase our state allocations, as we continue to reduce expenses in a strategic and thoughtful way.  These discussions are ongoing, and I am optimistic that we will find solutions that over time will place UMD in a stronger financial position.

I am pleased that our faculty and staff are interested in these issues, and I appreciate people’s passion and concern.  However, it is not helpful to unduly cast aspersions or make satirical criticisms against the university leaders in the Twin Cities who are helping us.

As UMD’s Chancellor, I will continue to advocate strongly for additional funding for UMD.  I do that with a focus on collaboration and on maximizing future opportunities, not on blaming others or focusing on past issues.  Structural imbalance simply refers to our budgeted recurring expenses outpacing our budgeted revenues.  However, UMD is still paying its bills and we have substantial non-recurring funds that carry forward from one fiscal year to the next.  These carryforward funds will not sustain us indefinitely, and so we need to resolve the imbalance soon.

In spite of the budget challenges we face, UMD has continued to reach new heights of excellence in the achievements of our students, faculty, and staff.  Budget challenges are a distraction and the reductions are painful.  However, we continue to move forward and adjust to changing times.  Our reputation is strong and our alumni and supporters are breaking records in giving back to this incredible institution that has had such a positive impact on their lives.  Each of us helps tell the UMD story by highlighting these successes and in turn promoting ongoing investment in UMD from our alumni, donors, elected officials, and University of Minnesota System leaders.  I ask for your ongoing support and assistance.

If you have questions about our budget, feel free to contact me our one of the vice chancellors.

Sincerely,

Lendley C. Black
Chancellor 

2018-19 Holiday Break

Dear Campus Community, 

This year, the holiday period from Monday, December 24, 2018 until Wednesday, January 2, 2019, includes 5 holidays, 2 weekend days and 2 regular work days.  Wherever possible, departments are encouraged to allow staff to have the 9 consecutive days off, by utilizing 2 days of vacation.  As in past years, this decision is entirely voluntary for both employees and departments, but strongly encouraged for sustainability reasons.

As in recent years, this holiday break provides an opportunity for the campus to reduce energy costs and prove its commitment to sustainability.  To reduce energy consumption and our campus carbon footprint, UMD will operate campus buildings at temperatures lower than usual (62 degrees F) with limited ventilation during this campus holiday break period.  If you have an adjustable thermostat in your office, you are asked to turn down the temperature to 62 degrees but no lower than 60 degrees.

Facilities Management intends to provide minimal staffing dependent on campus needs.  Please contact Facilities Management at facmgt@d.umn.edu if you plan to close or have events planned that will require our custodial (staff and/or door opening) services during this period.  In order to meet your needs, please respond as soon as possible.

Thank you for your continued support of UMD sustainability initiatives.

Have a great holiday break!

Lendley C. Black
Chancellor

Presidential Search Update

Dear Colleagues,

Last week our campus community had a chance to participate in listening sessions related to the search for the new President of the University of Minnesota. In Duluth, representatives of the Presidential Search Advisory Committee met with students, faculty, staff, and community members. I want to thank those of you who were able to attend and who provided valuable insight to the committee. Multiple committee members told me the comments and questions from UMD were thoughtful and displayed extreme passion for our mission and our students. Thank you for representing UMD so well.

If you did not have a chance to attend, please consider providing your input online through the presidential search website (scroll down to the form at the bottom of this community input page).

I would also like to recognize and thank Rajiv Vaidyanathan and Lynne Williams who were selected to serve on the presidential search committee. Nearly 400 individuals were nominated to serve on this important and time-intensive committee. If you are interested, you can review the full list of committee members.

As the search proceeds, I encourage you to follow search updates on the Presidential search website.

Best wishes,


Lendley C. Black
Chancellor

Welcome to the 2018-2019 Academic Year!

Dear Colleagues,

This truly is one of the best weeks of the year as we welcome new students and get ready for another academic year. Campus is full of activity and I want to express my appreciation to the staff, students, and faculty who have spent time preparing for and making this week successful. I encourage you to watch this move-in video that beautifully captures the excitement, emotions, and energy from Tuesday.

I thank those of you who were able to make it to the welcome breakfast Monday morning where you donated 281.5 pounds of food and $156 in contributions for Champ's Cupboard. If you would still like to donate to this worthwhile cause, please do so at the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Life, Room 245, Kirby Plaza.

If you were not able to attend the breakfast, I will recap the highlights in this email.

Students are at the center of everything we do, so please take a few minutes to hear what some students have to say about their experience here and their advice for faculty and staff.

Enrollment update
Speaking of students, we have had another strong enrollment year. This fall, UMD received over 10,300 new freshman and transfer applications - the most in UMD's history, and an increase of 5% over 2017. Our outstanding reputation is strong and growing.

We monitor new-student enrollment closely and make adjustments to ensure the highest quality experience for our students. Capacity in high demand programs as well as within co-curricular experiences, like on-campus housing, are at the forefront of our enrollment planning. For these reasons, the decision was made last fall to decrease the size of this year's freshman class to around 2,220, about 55 students fewer than last year. This is still about 80 students more than the fall 2016 cohort. In terms of our overall headcount, we are on target to meet our enrollment and budget goals with a projected total of 11,040 students.

Congratulations to the many staff members, as well as faculty and students, who help keep our student enrollment strong. Successful student recruitment, retention, and graduation works best when we are all supporting academic excellence and students' success. This is not the job of one group or unit in isolation. It's the job of all of us working together.

Review of accomplishments
I want to share a few accomplishments from this last year. The UMD Development team completed the best fundraising year in UMD's history. During the 2018 fiscal year, we raised $18.1 million. Part of that success was the kickoff of the public phase of our ten-year comprehensive campaign that began in 2011 under the theme "Wanted: The Adventurous and the Generous." Watch our inspiring Driven campaign video with voiceover from Tom Isbell.

We're seeking to raise $120 million by 2021. To date, UMD is nearly 80 percent of the way there, having raised more than $94 million since the campaign's soft launch in 2011. We have 5,453 new, first-time donors among the 12,783 donors who have contributed to the campaign. As we have broadened the UMD donor base, 114 new scholarships have been created, which is a 29% increase in the number of scholarships since the campaign began.

Last year, we also had excellent success in our reaffirmation of accreditation process with the Higher Learning Commission. Their final team report indicates that UMD meets all five criteria and all of the 21 core components under these criteria. In addition, we meet all of HLC's Federal Compliance requirements. Many thanks to Dr. Jennifer Mencl along with a large group of dedicated faculty and staff who served in coordinating roles, prepared documents, and hosted our site visitors.

Student success
Our students had remarkable achievements last year as well. UMD production of Antigone was one of seven productions invited by the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival to perform at the Region 5 Festival in Des Moines. Students in LSBE's Financial Markets Program were crowned champions of the Americas and then traveled to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and competed in the global final.

Students in SCSE took second place in their division of the Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition in New Mexico this summer. With only two semesters to design, build, and test their rocket (which went up to 30,000 feet) the Bulldogs placed higher than teams representing entire countries with far greater resources. Student members of the SUN Delegation led the effort to have solar panels installed on part of the Oakland Apartment Complex. The array will produce more than 50,000 kilowatt hours each year, equal to about $3,500 in electricity savings for UMD.

UMD student athletes excelled this past year by posting an average GPA of 3.25, an all-time high. In addition, they had great competitive success, including a national championship in Men's Hockey, UMD Softball advancing to the Super Regional, and two Bulldogs playing for the USA Women's Hockey Olympic Gold Medal winning team. In addition, student athletes logged over 3,600 hours of community service last academic year.

New programs
We have new innovative programs to better serve our students. In CEHSP, a new Bachelor of Individualized Integrated Studies will allow students to "build their own degree" in the Human Service Professions. Education also had the non-licensure Early Childhood Studies major approved. In January 2019, the Teaching English as a Foreign Language Certificate (TEFL) and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and Multilingual Education Minor will start.

In CLA, the Masters in Tribal Resource and Environmental Stewardship has launched. We have a Public History track starting in the History program that will give students a pathway into museum, state park, national park, and other arenas in the public humanities. There is a new Cognitive Science major beginning in Philosophy that is at the intersection of STEM, social sciences, and the humanities.

In LSBE, we've established an Accelerated 12-Month MBA and a 4+1 Integrated MBA. In SCSE, we've launched a Master of Science - Applied Materials Science degree.

Facilities update
We have new facilities to better serve our campus. Renovation on Romano Gymnasium is going very well, and UMD Volleyball will kick off competition in Romano on September 21 when they host MSU-Moorhead. Construction on the Heikkila Chemistry and Advanced Materials Science Building is proceeding ahead of schedule with partial opening in January and full occupancy by August 2019.

We received only roughly $4 million in HEAPR renovation funding from the state legislature this last session, which was not enough to totally upgrade one of our older buildings. That funding will be spread out over various smaller projects such as HVAC in Tweed, sprinklers and ADA upgrades in Darland, a water line replacement in Kirby Student Center, and the replacement of the Ward Wells Field House floor. We are working with the Twin Cities to again have an upgrade of AB Anderson on the next capital projects list.

Upcoming priorities
Some of our priorities for the coming year include:

1. Reinforcing our commitment to a healthy campus climate and building on the prevention of sexual misconduct training.

I am pleased that we have over 99% participation on the recent training to prevent sexual misconduct. Over the summer, the UMD Sexual Violence Response Team worked on follow up sessions to be held this fall. Those sessions will be announced in the next several weeks. The Team will also be consulting with the UMD Sexual Assault, Stalking, and Relationship Violence Committee about other training and educational opportunities for faculty, staff, and students.

We all need to reaffirm our commitment to make UMD more diverse, more inclusive, and to decrease and ideally eliminate bullying at UMD. Each of us is responsible for creating a healthy work environment and for supporting the retention and success of faculty, staff, and students of color, of diverse cultures, women, GLBTQAI and all members of the UMD community. We also need to call out bullying when we see it and support those who are bullied.

As an example of how one unit on campus is working to improve campus climate, The Listening Project was initiated by staff at UMD's Kathryn A. Martin Library who were seeking a way to foster communication and understanding between members of the campus community. We invite you to join this effort and the rest of the Campus Change Teams in the many initiatives and events, like this one, designed to help move us closer to realizing Goal 2 of our Strategic Plan.

2. Continue to make progress on the implementation of the UMD strategic plan and coordinate with systemwide strategic planning efforts.

3. Moving our retention and graduation rate to new levels of success.
We are taking part in the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) Transformation Clusters Initiative. APLU has placed 100 interested universities into 10 clusters and each cluster will focus on a specific challenge to retention and graduation, then work together to refine, implement, and scale innovative practices among the participating institutions.

4. Expanding UMD's International Education programs and alliances.
We are expanding our international partnerships in several countries. During the fall semester, we will revisit Vision 2020, the international strategic plan we adopted a few years ago.

5. Expanding UMD's public engagement reach.
Building on our public education mission, we will work across campus and collaborate between units to build on our engagement work with critical issues related to sustainability, homelessness, and food insecurity on and off campus.

6. Expand research and doctoral education.
Academic Affairs will continue its exploration into ways to expand the success of our research and to explore the possibility of additional doctoral programs. In addition to internal work at UMD, we are in the discussion phase with the Twin Cities to learn more about the path and options moving forward.

Additional Activities for this Academic Year
A. New and Renovated Facilities:
In order to continue to meet our enrollment goals, we recognize that we need to increase our capacity as we improve our academic facilities. Staff from Student Life and Finance and Operations are working with the Twin Cities capital projects management group on plans for a new residence hall, expanded dining options, and increased parking.

B. Presidential Search:
The Board of Regents is currently choosing members of the presidential search committee, which will be chaired by Regent Omari, with the goal of choosing a new president by January.  I am pleased that the committee's leadership will visit UMD in September and conduct listening sessions with faculty, staff, and students to get your input into the qualifications and characteristics we need in the next President of the University of Minnesota. The Board of Regents is committed to conducting a search that includes much input from various stakeholders, and I encourage you to share your opinions.

C. Budget:
We will share information with you about your Fiscal Year 2019 budget after we receive our final allocation letter for this fiscal year.

Thank you for your commitment to our students and to the work each of you do. Your drive and dedication is the energy that makes UMD thrive.

Have a wonderful semester and Go Bulldogs!

Sincerely,

Lendley C. Black
Chancellor

Bulldog Yard Contest | $2000 in Prizes!

Dear UMD Students,

We are excited to have you back on campus for the 2018 - 2019 school year and to welcome the UMD class of 2022. We hope you all enjoyed your well deserved summer break, had fun, and made lasting memories with your loved ones. We were thrilled to welcome all of you back to a new school year of learning and growing.

One of the most exciting days of the year is move-in day. Not only are newly enrolled students moving into their new home, but current staff and students join hands and welcome them to the UMD family. Though this experience is usually overwhelmingly positive, we know that in the past, the conduct of a few students has sent an unwelcoming message to the UMD and Duluth community.

This year, the UMD Student Association and the Office of Student Life are partnering to host the first ever "Bulldog Yard Contest". We invite students who live in the areas surrounding campus to decorate their yards with Bulldog pride, and help us welcome our new incoming students. Prizes will be awarded to the best yards, including a grand prize of a $250 gift card to SuperOne. UMD Student Association judges will visit the participating houses between the hours of 11am and 3pm on move-in day, Tuesday, August 21st.

Learn more about the Bulldog Yard Contest and sign-up to participate. Whether or not you and your roommates choose to participate in this event, we look forward to an exciting, fun, and safe move-in day and Bulldog Welcome Week.

Best Regards,

Mike Kenyanya

UMD SA President

Lendley C. Black

Chancellor