Dean's Update
May 6, 2022 - Aron Sousa, MD
Friends,
Welcome to graduation season, the best season of the academic year! This weekend, the university celebrates the graduation of undergraduates and graduate students. Our MPH, MA, and MS students had a chance to walk this morning, and the PhD students walk in the afternoon. It is always a wonderful day – all the more this year for being together, unlike 2020, and indoors, unlike the windy parking lot graduations of 2021.
Having any kind of graduation last year was a real accomplishment for the university; students and families were clearly grateful for last year’s ceremonies. This year, we are in the Breslin Center for all our graduations. It is a joy for me to see and shake the hands of the master’s and PhD students as we celebrate their degrees in front of the university.
This was also a week of ceremonies and strategic planning. I had the pleasure of going to the FRIB ribbon cutting, the Academic Affairs retirement celebration for this spring, the inaugural Finding Joy in Teaching honoree ceremony, and the college’s strategic planning task force had its third meeting last night. The return of receptions and ceremonies is a welcome sign that we are moving from pandemic to endemic COVID-19, but it does challenge both my calendar and my will power at a buffet line.
Academic Affairs Retirees L-R: Deb Cleland, Kim Lyth, Paula Klose, MD, Peggy Thompson, MD, Terry McGovern, PhD, Val Overholt, DO, Dianne Wagner, MD, Claudia Finkelstein, MD, and Dean Sousa
The college has two strategic planning efforts. The first is the MSU 2030 strategic plan, and particularly the Sustainable Health Pillar. It is very important for our teams to put forward one-page proposals by the June 1 deadline. I discussed this yesterday in the college leadership meeting with chairs and directors and later in the day at the Spring Faculty Meeting. I think our future proposals for the Global Impact Initiative, 1855 Professors, and other university resources will be stronger if the proposal has been through the strategic planning effort.
In the college’s own strategic planning, the task force has reviewed focus group input and stakeholder interviews collected by our consultants. In addition, I presented my own strategic concerns to the task force, and you can see the basics of those concerns in the recording of the Spring Faculty Meeting from yesterday afternoon. (Check out the awards section starting at about 90 minutes.) The work of the strategic planning task force will continue through the summer, and we expect a document ready for faculty, student, and staff comment and endorsement in the fall.
As the academic year comes to a close, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for the work you do each day to support our students, faculty, staff, and community partners. It is what you do that makes the college such a special place to learn and work. You have my deepest appreciation for your talent, hard work, and focus.
Each year has its own challenges, and, certainly, the last two years have been nearly unprecedented in their social and health challenges. I wish I thought the next year will be demonstrably easier, but the events of even just the last month suggest otherwise. We will get through the next year together because of the great work you all do, your dedication to those we serve, and the love you show to each other.
Serving the people with you,
Aron
Dean Aron Sousa, MD