January 30, 2024

Dear Colleagues:

As we move into the third week of the spring semester and enjoy relief from January’s earlier frigid cold, I want to offer an especially warm welcome to returning faculty members and those just beginning their career journeys at Colorado State University. Since this is my first semester as Provost and Executive Vice President, I share the excitement of our newest colleagues in joining one of the top public universities in the nation.

As the semester progresses, I will share updates with you about the work of our leadership team in the Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President. For now, I would like to encourage you to join me in attending the Faculty Council virtual meeting on February 6, 4-6 p.m. Teams links are posted on the Faculty Council website a few days prior to each monthly meeting. I will be presenting my first executive report and will share some of the top priorities for our academic enterprise over the next several months. I also will provide updates on the status of searches for our next College of Liberal Arts Dean, the College of Agricultural Sciences Dean, and the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs. Please see the addendum below regarding the Vice Provost search.

I look forward to working with the extraordinary academic leadership, faculty, and graduate students at CSU toward innovation in the undergraduate curriculum. As a former graduate dean at UT Dallas, I deeply appreciate the contributions of graduate students and relish the opportunity to elevate them in their disciplines – our graduate students are both students and employees, and deserve our very best. Like faculty, graduate students are instrumental as teachers, enhance undergraduate education as research mentors, and help fuel our research engine with their ideas and energy.

I wish all of you a productive and rewarding spring semester in your classrooms, labs, studios, and collaborations. You are among the most dedicated and talented teachers and researchers the world of higher education has to offer, and I share my Ram pride for you and with you.

Sincerely,

Marion

Marion K. Underwood, Ph.D.
Provost and Executive Vice President

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Search for the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs

The Office of the Provost and Executive Vice President has launched a national search for a Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs (VP-UA). Dr. Tom Siller has been serving as interim Vice Provost since last spring, and he has done an exceptional job in advancing key initiatives and elevating CSU’s student success work. Tom will be retiring by the end of June after more than 35 years at CSU. I am grateful for his dedication to our students and academic enterprise, and personally appreciative of his kindness and assistance in helping support my transition to Provost and Executive Vice President.

CSU is conducting a national search for the next VP-UA. The job posting and search timeline can be found at: https://provost.colostate.edu/search-for-vice-provost-for-undergraduate-affairs/. The deadline for full consideration is Sunday, February 25. We have seated an 11-member search committee chaired by Dr. Steve Dandaneau, Associate Provost and UERU Executive Director.

The full committee comprises:  

Chair
Steve Dandaneau
Associate Provost
Executive Director of the Association of Undergraduate Education at Research Universities (UERU)

Committee Members
D. Tobiassen Baitinger
Registrar, Office of the Registrar

Shawn Bingham
Director, Honors Program

Gaye DiGregorio
Executive Director, Collaborative for Student Achievement

Andrea Duffy
Assistant Vice Provost
Associate Professor of History

Lisa Dysleski
Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs, College of Natural Sciences

Robert Gudmestad
Professor and Chair, Department of History

Bridgette Johnson
Assistant Vice President, Office of Inclusive Excellence

Aimee Jones
Director, Education Abroad, International Programs

Michelle Stanley
Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies, College of Liberal Arts
Professor, School of Music

Joe von Fischer
Professor, Department of Biology
School of Global Environmental Sustainability

Support
Tammy Prusha
Executive Assistant to the Provost

Equal Opportunity Coordinator
Sarah Blessinger
Human Resources Senior Business Partner, Office of the Provost

We anticipate announcing a new VPUA in May. If you would like to nominate a candidate, please email: [email protected].