August 19, 2020

Dear Colleagues,

Over the past week, new University of Montana students arrived in Missoula, unpacked their belongings and said goodbye to their families. These are the newest members of the UM family, and we enthusiastically welcome them to a campus community that has worked tirelessly to create healthy and safe learning and living environments. So many across campus have committed countless hours to help ensure these students can start their UM journeys, and I am grateful.

The other day, I heard through my open office windows the glorious sound of the Grizzly Marching Band playing “Up with Montana.” The song forced me to pause and recognize the tremendous importance of what we do here at UM. As we begin the semester, I want you to know that I and the broader community are inspired by your tireless efforts – faculty adjusting courses to ensure our students have access to quality experiences, staff finding new ways of working to keep our campus running and students well served, and students providing insight and embracing the imperative that we be flexible as a community.

The last few months have presented our campus and country with major challenges. The global pandemic has tested our ability to adapt, and a national reckoning with a history and current reality of systemic racism has called upon us to rehabilitate our institutions, including our own. UM will not shrink from any of this important work. The song and the students playing it reminded me that we are called upon to deliver a UM education and take action in ways that make our community and state better. Thank you for your partnership in this important work.

We also begin the new academic year with an exciting announcement. On Sept. 23, Mary Kreta will join the UM team as our new associate vice president for enrollment management. She will lead our admissions, financial aid and alumni teams, building upon the momentum they have accomplished. Mary joins UM from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, where she served as the associate vice chancellor of enrollment management and previously served as both director of admissions and director of recruitment. She brings to UM impressive experience leading university-wide strategic enrollment planning processes, a strong commitment to partnership with deans and campus directors, and a serious love of the Intermountain West. Please join me in welcoming Mary to campus!

As we establish this stability in our enrollment management area, we also will shape a leadership position to oversee marketing and communications. We will not fill the vice president for enrollment and strategic communications role as previously structured, but will instead recruit for a vice president for marketing and communications. This individual will lead our marketing, communications and public relations efforts while advancing UM’s work in recruiting domestic and international students, attracting high-quality faculty and staff, engaging external stakeholders and promoting the University’s brand. UM’s story — your story — deserves to be told boldly, widely and loudly.

At the same time, I have asked Paula Short, who currently serves as our associate vice president for strategic communications, to step into a reconfigured role as associate vice president for campus preparedness and response. As many of you know, Paula has been a key leader of our COVID-19 response efforts, and even prior to the pandemic has been the lead for UM in managing emergent issues on campus. We have been fortunate to benefit from Paula’s training and rare skillset in crisis response and in building systems that prepare our institution to mitigate risk through proactive planning. As we look to a future that promises to continue to present us with new challenges, UM will benefit greatly from a more deliberate and focused attention on preparation and response. In her newly configured role, Paula will oversee our Office of Risk Management, our Campus Preparedness and Response Group and other vital functions of campus preparation and response. Paula will continue to lead our marketing and communications team while we search for a vice president and will transition to her new role when that individual has joined campus.

As we commence today with the start of classes, I am excited to engage the campus in conversations about the UM of tomorrow. Soon, our University Design Team will invite you to learn about their work over the summer and to engage in their thinking. I invite you to participate in actively shaping UM’s future. That future begins this week with the students we welcome to campus and those we serve online. 

Up with Montana!

Seth