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Friday Focus: Back to school

Aug. 30, 2024

— By Dan White, chancellor

Happy first week of the fall 2024 semester! It is so exciting to walk around campus and feel the vibrancy that comes from students moving back into the residence halls. For those of you who were off contract in the summer, welcome back! You may notice that a few things have changed since you were last on campus.

On July 1, we received generous funding from the state to support ²ÝÁñÉçÇø Ph.D. students toward our R1 goal. Over the summer, 82 Ph.D. students received funding support to achieve this goal. The state is on board and the students are on board! Now it is up to us, faculty, staff, and administration. It is our job to support these students toward their graduation in the most expedient way! Please do everything you can to support the students on the demanding journey of earning a Ph.D.

This August, we celebrated the re-opening of the Moore and Bartlett residence halls. The newly renovated buildings are equipped with state of the art bathrooms, new furniture, and laundry facilities. It is exciting to welcome students into updated dorms, and I look forward to working with our Board of Regents on a plan to build new dorms on campus in the coming years.

Another thing that looks different this fall is the 6th floor of the Rasmuson Library. From the outside, you may notice some new windows installed to let light into the top of the building. I encourage you to head up to the 6th floor and see what these new windows are shining light on. The new Student Success Center, a one-stop shop for student services, is open and already bustling with students. Thank you to Jen Tilbury, Nick Middelstadt, and everyone involved for making this beautiful space a reality for students. It is inspiring to see what a small investment can do to completely transform the student experience at ²ÝÁñÉçÇø.

In addition to physical changes on campus, there have also been some organizational changes. This summer, Tom Hough joined my core cabinet as the executive director of University Advancement. It is a big job, and he has already hit the ground running on improving internal communications, working with external partners, and pushing us toward our #1 fundraising goal to build the Troth Yeddha’ Indigenous Studies Center. Welcome Tom!

Speaking of the TYISC, this May the Board of Regents approved renaming the College of Rural and Community Development to the College of Indigenous Studies. This change has been a long time coming and reflects the expertise and global leadership of the college. Congratulations to everyone involved in making this change possible. In addition, Advising Services officially moved from the Office of the Provost to the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management on July 1, and the Honors College has been moved back to the Office of the Provost to align academic programs.

To kick off the new semester, I invite you to join me at the Chancellor’s Convocation on Sept. 12 at 1 p.m. in the Davis Concert Hall. Rumor has it there will be ice cream.

Thanks for choosing ²ÝÁñÉçÇø.

Friday Focus is written by a different member of ²ÝÁñÉçÇø’s leadership team every week.