Dean's update

September 1, 2008

This is the first of what is intended to be a weekly update on my activities on behalf of our faculty, staff and students and a means to better communicate issues that we are addressing as a college family. It is my hope that this electronic update will enhance overall communication throughout the College and make everyone better aware of the issues we are addressing in the College administration.

Since assuming the position as dean in July, I have been devoting much of my time getting to know the faculty and staff, members of the campus administration, and key stakeholders. To date, I have met with each department head, the associate deans, and every member of the dean’s office staff for one-on-one discussions. I have also done a quick tour of all of our facilities.  I have met with important stakeholders and collaborators such as Farm Bureau, Connecticut Nursery and Landscape Association, Connecticut Farmland Trust, and several of the state agency heads. I have now met many of the members of the campus administration. In addition, I have now visited all eight extension centers. At each center, I have had the opportunity to hear from each faculty and staff member and learn about their programs. Now that these visits are complete and the fall term is underway, I will schedule time in each department for a similar set of briefings. These first few months are critical as I go through the important learning and assessment phase.

During my first meeting with the department heads, I shared two important priorities for us as a college during the year. First, with the completion of the Academic Plan, we must now develop a new strategic plan for the College that defines our role under the Academic Plan. This plan must be presented to the provost by January 1 so time is short and we will have to dedicate the time necessary to develop a thoughtful and visionary plan that will chart our course over the next several years. Over the next few weeks, I will develop a process and timeline for completion of the plan with the associate deans and department heads. This process will need to be designed such that everyone has opportunity for input on develop of the plan. Our second priority will be the development of priorities for the new campus fundraising campaign that will be unveiled next fall. Significant time must be dedicated to setting appropriate goals and priorities, developing campaign materials, selecting a campaign committee and better engaging our donors, alums and friends. Much work remains to be done before the campaign begins.

With the receipt of budget information from campus on Friday, we can now complete the College budget for this fiscal year. With the state budget reduction, we will be challenged to adjust our budget accordingly and budget very conservatively during the next year. Hopefully the budget picture will improve and we can move forward to address the priorities set in our new strategic plan.

I hope this electronic update proves useful to you as a means to enhance communication about what issues I am addressing as dean of the College. Look for other changes as I continue to seek ways to enhance communication and ways to better promote the wonderful and exciting things we do in this College.

Gregory J. Weidemann

Dean and Director