Dean John Coleman gave his annual State of the College address at the CLA Assembly meeting on September 20, 2016. For those who were unable to attend, the text of his message can be found here (in John’s blog). John has a very nice exposition on how the liberal arts build empathy and compassion, imagination, and community. For those who were unable to attend and who are impatient, let me just summarize by saying that Undergraduate Education received several shout-outs for our accomplishments over the past couple of years.
These include (in order of appearance):
- Doubling the number of career counselors.
- Rolling out a new career services model for departments.
- Reducing our student::advisor ratio down into the recommended range.
- Incorporating Readiness themes in the First Year Experience.
- Doubling the number of Dean’s Freshman Research and Creative Scholars.
- Increasing scholarships for unpaid internships.
- Building our transfer advising team.
- Creating the Transfer Semester Experience course.
- Supporting curricular initiatives including new degrees in Statistics, advanced proficiency certificates, creative writing minor, a BA/MA in health communication and a BA/MD program.
- Restructuring UGE.
- Initiating and developing the Career Readiness Initiative (aka Pathways, aka Bundles).
It makes us sound like Super(wo)men, and I’m proud to say that I work with all of you, the people who make all these great things happen.
I also know that there are a lot of great things happening in UGE that did not make it into John’s speech, and here are a few:
- Improved communication.
- New analytics system (CLARA).
- Improved APlus tools.
- Expanded professional development and training.
- Improved collaboration across UGE.
- Increased support for developing internships.
But I don’t want appear too greedy and pout about what was skipped–we already looked like the belles/beaux of the ball.
Kudos all around, and I look forward to what the dean will be able to say about our accomplishments next year.
