SUBJECT: Updates from the Provost Office

Dear Colleagues;

Can you believe that Thanksgiving is just around the corner? We are in our 11th week of the semester and everybody has been busy on so many levels! This has been a very demanding  semester for all of us and the return to campus has brought challenges but many moments of happiness as well. Greeting each other on our beautiful campus, being able to spend some time together safely and in person, but most of all, reconnecting with our students now that campus is open. I’d like to thank each and every one of you for your commitment to our students and to our mission to secure their success! We have been very diligent in keeping our community safe, so let’s continue to do so by encouraging everyone to keep wearing their masks!

All four colleges have been busy working on Practice-Based Learning (PBL) proposals and efforts to integrate PBL across our undergraduate and graduate curriculum. I am very proud of the efforts and commitment that fueled this novel way of approaching our teaching, and while some of our faculty were already integrating PBL in their courses, moving forward, PBL will be a common practice in most courses across all four colleges. The Provost Office has also been working with Enrollment Management to prepare the launch of Affinity Groups for Fall 2022. Here, too, our colleges have proposed creative ideas on how to better recruit students and make them feel part of our caring and supportive community. I want to thank everybody involved in writing these proposals. Please watch for more details soon.

Our office has been busy with not only return-to-campus logistics, preparing the winter schedule, and moving critical priorities forward, but also on the Four-Credit Transition Initiative for CASL and CEHHS. We continue to work on the challenges that this initiative will bring, but rest assured that we are meeting with everyone involved, including chairs, faculty, and disciplines who want to learn more about how to make this transition. While we would like to get this program going, we now see that there are challenges facing some of our disciplines. Please reach out to us and let’s work together so that we can discuss factors that might be an impediment to the two-courses per semester model. We need your perspective and creativity to make this happen (you know your program and courses best). Currently, we are working on a website and updating the “Four-credit Transition Initiative Planning Guide” and with two disciplines to create a model that will serve as exemplars for other disciplines as well. This effort is going to take time and patience, but in two or three years we will all feel the benefits of a reduced teaching load. Please know that I am committed to getting us all there!

We are in communication with our colleagues at UM-Flint to foster teaching and research collaborations. We are also working closely with Henry Ford College to secure a path for their students to transfer seamlessly to our institution. In addition, the Office of Academic Success has been working with the colleges to consider goals, initiatives, and action items that support academic success. Each college will identify faculty to engage in college and campus level planning groups that will begin meeting in Winter 2022. If you would like more details on this work, please reach out to Jess LaGrange or your associate deans.

I’m also pleased that the Director of the Mardigian Library search is underway: I want to thank Professor Danielle DeFauw for chairing the search, the faculty senate for recommending Professor John Chenowith for serving, and all of the committee members who are dedicating their time to this important search.

As you well know, UM-Dearborn is a diverse community with many of us observing and celebrating a variety of different faiths and religions. As a result, I want to remind faculty of our campus policy on Conflicts Between the Academic and Religious Calendars. The policy reads: “every reasonable effort should be made to help students avoid negative academic consequences when their religious obligations conflict with academic requirements.” Students are required to provide faculty with notice of the dates of religious holiday(s) (click here for a listing of religious holidays during the 2021-2022 Academic Year) for which they will be absent by no later than the drop/add deadline. Of course, that date has passed but I encourage you to consider providing flexibility this coming winter term if a student does reach out.

And, just looking ahead, January 3rd is the date to be in compliance with the vaccine mandate for faculty, staff, and students for the winter term.

Please remember that during the week of Thanksgiving there are no classes as it is our fall break. I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving and hope you can enjoy the holiday, get together with your family and friends, rest and relax. I am very grateful to be working with you and for the warm community we have here at Dearborn.

With All Best Wishes,

Gabriella

Gabriella Scarlatta
Interim Provost & Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs