OPAA Leadership Adjustments

January 17, 2018 - Since arriving to campus last July, I have spent a lot of time getting to know my team in OPAA. Prior to my arrival there were several changes made to OPAA’s organizational structure. I have been continuing to assess whether we are optimally utilizing everyone’s skills. While the entire assessment and refresh is not yet complete, I wanted to update you on a couple of key changes as the winter term begins.

Registration open for 2018 winter workshop series

January 8, 2018

Dear Colleagues,

Happy New Year! The Office of the Provost and Academic Affairs has now opened registration for its winter 2018 workshop series.

Note that workshops for unit heads and academic leaders are scheduled the first and last Wednesday of each month from 8:30 – 10:00 AM.

Workshops provide an opportunity for OPAA to connect with you about changes in policy and procedure. As such, we encourage seasoned unit heads to attend these workshops as well as new heads. You bring valuable insights and your participation is important to us.

Fund for Active Recruitment Message

November 8, 2017

Dear Colleagues,

I am writing to draw your attention to the Fund for Active Recruitment, and to important changes that have been made to the program.

The Fund for Active Recruitment provides grants of up to $2000 to support active recruitment and outreach; foster relationships with promising potential faculty members; and build a diverse pipeline for current and anticipated searches.

Proposals for active recruitment might include:

Classroom Management Resources

December 13, 2017 - As those of you who will be teaching next term prepare for winter-term courses, it is important to think again about pedagogy and classroom management. When contentious social issues are discussed in class, students sometimes make declarations and accusations that, intentional or not, disrupt the learning environment. This happened several times last term, including two cases in which students made declarations in favor of white nationalism/white supremacy and at least one case in which someone not enrolled in a class disrupted it by shouting political slogans.

It is important to note that student speech, when related to class discussion and consistent with an environment conducive to learning, is vigorously protected by law and by university policy, even when such speech is offensive to others. At the same time, speech that is not relevant to class discussion and that disrupts the ability of our instructors to teach or our students to learn can be forbidden as disruptions of university activities in violation of policy.