Dear colleagues,

Sincere greetings and welcome to the new year! I hope you were able to find opportunities to rest and spend meaningful time with family and friends during the holidays. It’s good to have you back. As we prepare to welcome students to campus, I want to share some thoughts and resources that I hope will help sustain our academic community through the spring semester.

Supporting UM faculty and staff

I realize that many of us are craving meaningful connection following many months of living through a pandemic. I think it’s well-established that each of us is experiencing the pandemic differently, due in large part to our different life circumstances. The University has taken broad actions to demonstrate support for faculty and staff since March, and while I know these are appropriate and important, some of us need a more personalized approach.

It’s important to check in with each other and offer support, so I am prioritizing meetings with each of the deans and my other colleagues in Academic Affairs, asking them to do the same with their leadership teams and, in turn, ensure they personally connect with faculty and staff. We’re in this together and I want to ensure everyone feels connected and supported. I hope that everyone in Academic Affairs will be afforded a check-in meeting with a supervisor this month or next. You can share as you see fit and appropriate at those meetings—the point is to create opportunities for personal connection and for deans, chairs, and supervisors to listen, learn, and support you.

Resources for teaching and learning

As you prepare for spring classes, please take advantage of the resources offered by the Office of Organizational Learning and Development (OOLD), UMOnline, and Information Technology. Visit this webpage for information on:

• Distance teaching techniques and online instruction support
• Learning Assistants for your spring classes
• Supporting online/remote students
• New accessibility and video tools within Moodle
• Classroom technology and instructional equipment.

Curriculum proposal deadline

The deadline for curriculum proposals is Friday, January 22, 2021. Both Faculty Senate and the Office of the Provost are offering office hours to help with the development and submission of proposals. More information is available on the Curriculum website.

In closing

I am grateful for your support as I continue to learn and grow into my role as Acting Provost. I have the privilege of working closely with President Bodnar, the Vice Presidents, the deans, and shared governance leaders, and appreciate the variety of insights and perspectives my colleagues offer. I’m thrilled about hiring Maria Mangold as University Registrar and Laurie Baefsky as dean of the College of the Arts and Media—they are truly outstanding additions to the Academic Affairs leadership team.

I plan to share more details about my goals for Academic Affairs this semester in a future communication. In the meantime, I invite you to share your thoughts, questions, and concerns with me via email at officeoftheprovost@umontana.edu and to schedule a meeting with me during my office hours.

Sincerely,

Reed Humphrey, Acting Provost and VP for Academic Affairs