Common Themes (page 3)

We must keep our sense of humor going.  So, I start my report back to you with a major announcement.  The most frequently mentioned topic, spanning campus and community and faculty, staff and students alike, is parking.  We believe we have a solution to aspects of the problem: Red Square will be made into a centrally located parking lot, thereby also eliminating another genuine concern: pedestrian/bicycle/skateboard issues in the Square during class changes. 

At most listening sessions, a colleague kept track of the subjects raised, and those were placed on the web, unedited and unpolished.  In preparing for my remarks today, I reread every page of those department-by-department comments and made my own summary notes on themes common to more than one listening session.

My summary of common themes ended up with exactly 100.  Time does not permit me to cover the full richness of even those subjects in common let alone the many important particulars relevant in a specific departmental context.  Should you be interested, though, in that level of detail, I have put my notes, my personal summary of the 100 shared listening session themes, out on the web.  Let me know what I missed for I know well more eyes allow clearer vision.  The “raw data” (the notes from each listening session) are on the web along with a community forum where I now encourage you to comment on what I got right.  And, what I overlooked or misunderstood.

My remarks today do not target the immediate months ahead and our budget.  The processes and criteria for addressing our budget have been established and will proceed openly and with your engagement.  Later this afternoon, I will be giving a presentation on the budget:  to our Trustees; and, to you should you choose to listen:  We will audio-cast that report. 

Today, we will look further out.  And, it will be your vision, your strategies, and your concerns that I have the privilege to now report.

Next page: Preparing Tomorrow Today