Message from the dean: Looking forward to what’s ahead

Welcome, everyone, to a new academic year! I hope you enjoyed an excellent break or other opportunity to recharge over the summer.

Now that we have started classes and with the slightly cooler weather, it feels like a traditional fall semester. LAS welcomes an incoming class of first-year and transfer students that is slightly larger than last year’s, a positive sign and one that reflects the efforts of our departments and recruitment teams.

We tell our students that one of the key aspects of a traditional liberal arts education is the flexibility it provides to adapt and change to whatever challenges life has in store. As you know, the landscape of higher education is rapidly changing. It is important that we understand where we can build on the flexible, enduring skills belonging to our disciplines as we face those changes directly, to retain as much control over our own destiny as possible.

Some of the largest external influences are policy changes, from the Iowa Board of Regents to the state and federal government. One notable change was the Board of Regents’ changes to its academic freedom policy. You can view the changes in the policy manual.

It’s important that we all understand academic freedom, and what it means to students and faculty. I encourage you to read through the changes, then view the Office of the Provost’s guidance to the policy. I’m sure many of you will have questions, and I hope you will reach out to department chairs and/or the dean’s office when you do. We should have conversations when you’re unsure, uncomfortable, or feeling a little overwhelmed. And don’t forget the resources available to you, like CELT, and your seasoned colleagues.

I’m confident that together we can address these changes, and follow up with new success, just as we have done in the past. For example, over the last year we launched new degrees, partnerships, and programs. Greenlee’s new sports media communications program attracted nearly 70 students to enroll this fall. And nine students are registered for our new integrated health sciences degree, which was approved only a handful of months ago. We’re seeing similar success with programs in which we’re a partner, like the College of Design’s new game design degree.

We saw the successful transition of IT staff to ISU central administration, advancements in Workday, an efficient and successful transition to a new budget system – amidst unprecedented research funding changes. We welcomed a new Provost, and announced several new LAS leaders. We started a new strategic planning process, hosted advisors from other colleges at an event to introduce them to the incredible major, minor, and certificate pairings available in LAS for their advisees, and created a recruitment playbook, to establish common language across the college, that helps articulate why prospective students should seek out their degree at Iowa State, in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

We are able to achieve these changes because of the thoughtful and talented leadership across the college. Earlier this month, I had the privilege to gather with department chairs during a retreat, and the engagement and motivation was inspiring. Kudos to faculty and staff who have helped achieve these examples of success in our academic departments:

• 78% of academic departments achieved their 6-month milestones
• 20 action items outlined in department plans were completed. Examples include completed recruitment plans, completed market assessments for online degrees, and the launch of 3-year and transfer degree planning.

Thank you all for working hard on your goals, to help us grow out of Reimaging LAS. We’ll have more success to report from our interdisciplinary programs and support units. The goals identified by departments, programs, and units – in tandem with university and external demands, are the guardrails for shaping the college’s strategic actions plan.

We have even more successes, and you can hear about some of them at our LAS Convocation and Awards Ceremony on September 4, beginning at 3:00pm in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union. I’ll deliver the State of the College address, and we’ll celebrate the recipients of LAS and university awards.

It’s going to be an exciting year. I look forward to working with you in the months ahead as we plan together how to address the changes we see around us. Thanks for being here and helping to write the next chapters in the history of our college and this great university.

Ben

Benjamin C. Withers, Ph.D.
Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Professor of History