Hello, CALS, on this first day of August!
I hope you all had a good weekend. This past week was consumed with all kinds of things, for me especially with work as co-chair (with College of Human Sciences Dean Laura Jolly) of the Provost’s search for the next Iowa State Vice President for Extension and Outreach. Our current, terrific VPEO, John Lawrence, will retire as planned in March 2023. The goal is to secure the next great person in leadership for this key work - work that is so inextricably linked to our college. If you know of someone who might be interested, please don’t hesitate to send their name to me as a nomination.
Next week we have the opportunity to host the board of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation and show off some of the new facilities and programs we have. We are deep in the season of retreats for dean’s office units and departments, and I wish all of you participating great forward-leaning discussions! Rather than retreating, let’s all advance!
With the start of the semester just three weeks away, a new event is being planned to welcome new and returning students to campus Aug. 19-20. Called Cyclone Welcome Weekend, the two days will include a series of events that will highlight parts of Iowa State's new strategic plan, which include being a student-centric leading research university with a welcoming and inclusive environment for all. The goal is to engage Iowa State students in healthy, community-building activities to reduce high-risk behaviors often associated with the weekend before classes.
I encourage you all to consider volunteering to make this welcome event a success. Help is needed with the welcome cookout, Camp Iowa State Breakfast, outdoor movie nights, hypnotist and more. Sign up for one or more shifts via the Registration System. Those who sign up by 4:00 p.m. on Aug. 1 will be guaranteed their preferred T-shirt size and a gift card to the Iowa State Creamery or an ISU Dining market café. All volunteers will receive a free T-shirt and commemorative event poster, and those who participate in Adventure2 can join the Volunteer – Cyclone Welcome Weekend activity and earn 100 points following the completion of their service.
I am also excited to report our college strategic thinking exercise, which will lead to a new Strategic Plan, is about to hit high gear. The current plan expires this year, and as discussed previously, we are embarking on a new approach. With college and department leadership, there is assigned a writing team, led by Associate Dean Carolyn Lawrence-Dill, that has redrafted the kind of document you’ll find in the web link above, but the new version will take a different tact.
This time the effort is to draft a Statement of Strategic Purpose, a concise list of Strategic Priorities, and then activate them through the development in each department and college office with rolling Strategic Initiatives that can be evaluated and updated regularly. We have conducted a number of representational focus groups on this approach (CALS Faculty Senate Caucus, CALS Staff Council, CALS Student Council and graduate student representatives, CALS department chairs and dean’s office leadership and CALS DEI staff), vetted some of the Strategic Purposes and Priorities drafts with key internal and external leadership, and will soon launch multiple ways people everywhere in the college can weigh-in with their ideas. The Strategic Initiatives will be developed at the level of each unit, using whatever approach each unit leader/chair determines is best, and will be consistent with whatever current strategic planning is being conducted. This’ll be good!
My very best for a great week. - Dan
Nature in Focus
You can almost feel the "cool" of the trees in this picture on a hot, Iowa summer day.
