Hello CBE community,
Thank you for an amazing level of participation in the survey! The survey and interviews wrapped on Monday evening, today Julius relayed to me the survey stats: 79% of the faculty, 63% of the staff submitted, giving very thorough and thoughtful responses. The affiliates/student leaders/external stakeholder response was lower but still respectable 22%, raising the possibility we need other means to reach these audiences. He also said there was an extraordinarily clear message advising what the Dean should do next:
#1 response by a wide margin was “Continue this process of listening and learning”
#2 response was “Work towards shared mission and values”
Julius expects the report late next week or early the following. While the report will be only one part of this process and a helpful tool for all of us, the clear (likely not a surprise to most everyone) themes noted above from the initial three day sessions have already been at the top of my to-do list since the start of the quarter. Below are some of the highlights from the first month of my listening and learning process.
The CBE communication team put together a website for updates and materials on the Dean’s Dialogue process. HERE is the link to the site, if you navigate to the blog (or follow the link HERE), there is more information on the bullets listed below. I know everyone’s email inbox gets a lot of traffic, so I will work with the communication team to limit the number of these emails and effectively use the site.
Thanks again for the warm welcome and for your patience as I continue to learn about the incredible work you all do at our College!
-renee
Some key highlights:
Listening and Learning
- Dean’s Office hours, 2-4 hours per week open office hours, see email from Susanne weekly for exact times each week
- Student outreach: live survey/poll on the student experience at CBE completed with 20 student leaders. Next steps are meetings with focus groups by degree program and walking tours of classes and studios
- External audience outreach, currently planning survey, focus groups and kick off event
- Renee’s attendance at faculty meetings, faculty/staff social events is planned
- Renee has been attending or plans to attend events in the community once or twice per week
Reviews, Actions and Milestones
- Review of decision-making on use of space in CBE buildings
- Continuing to advance the development of CBE research engine, including hiring student worker and dedicating internal CBE IT expertise to support.
- Preliminary discussions and planning for strategically advancing equity, diversity and inclusion
- Developing communication plan for students, external audience and internal, including hiring of student workers to support the plans.
- Mapping roles, responsibilities and processes starting with the Dean’s office and communication team
- Developing targets and metrics for fund-raising for student support