Good morning Trustees,
When I began my tenure as Provost here at the University of Oregon almost exactly a year ago, I anticipated that we would need to navigate difficult negotiations with our unions; that we would find ourselves caught up in the crosscurrents of geopolitical conflicts; and that we would need to reimagine how we work together to advance the ambitious goals of the Oregon Rising strategic plan.
What I did not anticipate, however, was the systematic effort by the federal administration to undermine the transformative power of higher education in the United States. I did not foresee that the bipartisan funding compact that has long made our nation a global leader in critical research would be dismantled; nor, indeed, that diversity itself, which enriches the life of the university and makes research and teaching excellence possible, would come under such vehement and misguided attack.
But this is where we find ourselves at this hour of “the clock of the world,” as Grace Lee Boggs might put it.
I am grateful to find myself here, facing these challenges in Oregon with all of you on this Board, and with a dedicated executive and academic leadership team of the University of Oregon who are committed to values-enacted, authentic, coordinated leadership.
Over the course of the past year, I have experienced in our broader academic community of faculty, staff, and students a willingness to work together to create a culture of trust that will enable us to navigate the challenges we face.
****
Part of building trust is an ongoing commitment to open communication, as we have done recently with the budgetary adversity we heard more detail about yesterday afternoon. I know those messages have caused some understandable anxiety in our community. I believe, however, that it is important to communicate even and perhaps especially when the answers are not fully worked out and the decisions are yet to be finalized. Although the choices ahead may be hard, they don’t have to be isolating.
There’s a reflection by artist Sage Crump in adrienne maree brown’s book, Holding Change, that I have been thinking about recently. Crump writes:
I believe our ability to recognize, accept, and move with complexity is integral to how we dismantle the current state and build new ways of being with each other. The ability to engage complexity is directly tied to our ability to imagine
I look forward to working with leaders at every level of our university to move through the complex challenges and difficult decisions our current budgetary constraints are pressing upon us in a principled and strategic way. Informed by wisdom at the local level and our collective imagination, we will find a pathway through this difficult period.
****
As the end of the academic year approaches, I want to update the board on our efforts to make the University of Oregon a destination for transfer students. This work is important to me because it makes good on our commitment to student access and on our commitment to be an engine of economic mobility for students and their families.
As the co-chair of the Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission’s Transfer Council, I know that there is significant legislative and public interest in improving transfer and articulation options between our state's public community colleges and universities, so that we can collectively better serve students from across the state.
Last time we met, we discussed our agreement with Southwestern Oregon Community College and the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology. We have now finalized a dual admission agreement with Lane Community College that will allow us both to connect with LCC students earlier and enable them to identify as future Ducks more quickly. In addition, the Ballmer Institute is working with Portland State University to create opportunities for students from Portland State to complete degrees in Child Behavioral Health at UO Portland. And we’re actively connecting with community colleges around the state to give their students access to this exciting new profession.
But, beyond facilitating articulation pathways, it is also critical—if we want to effect meaningful change—that we provide a supportive experience and positive outcomes for transfer students once they arrive here. To that end, last month, Jamie Moffitt and I charged the Transfer Student Experience workgroup, co-chaired by Grant Schoonover from Undergraduate Education and Student Success, and Anna Schmidt-MacKenzie from Student Services and Enrollment Management.
This committee, which includes experts from across the university, has been asked to identify challenges and remove the impediments that transfer students face in both enrolling and succeeding at the University of Oregon. Transfer students bring a wealth of diverse experiences, perspectives, and wisdom to our university community. Their varied academic and personal journeys enrich classroom discussions, broaden the intellectual fabric of campus life, and foster a culture of adaptability and determination that we need to embrace.
****
Let me conclude my remarks here by returning to the purpose statement the academic leaders on the Provost’s Council agreed to in our first retreat together last summer. We said we would: ...put the academic mission at the heart of the University through values-enacted, authentic, coordinated leadership.
Throughout this difficult year, I have had the privilege, and the joy, to work with leadership on the Provost’s Council—our deans and vice-provosts, and with leadership all across campus at every level of this university, to put this commitment into practice. The work of culture building requires intentional effort every day, and it unfolds over time as we work through difficulties together. Although Oregon Rising is a 10-year plan, the institutional habits we have cultivated over the past year will ensure that the progress we’re beginning to see with our plan will continue and endure. Periods of disruption, however difficult, can also open us to opportunities for “refinement and renewal” (O’Donohue).
I believe in our community’s capacity to respond to the challenges we face with the kind of imaginative thinking Sage Crump describes: bold enough to envision new worlds, grounded enough to create them together.
Thank you.