Leadership in a Time of Transition
Sent: October 27, 2021
From: Vincent J. Del Casino, Jr., Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs
Dear Colleagues,
I hope this email finds you well!
We are well into our fall semester and students are starting to register for spring
classes. We remain in a transitional period as it relates to COVID, but through some
amazing campus efforts, the vast majority of our students, faculty, and staff are
in compliance with new campus health guidelines. The spring will bring some new challenges,
particularly as we continue to repopulate our campus by increasing the number of
classes taught face-to-face. We are also in the midst of a larger conversation about
the future of work. We have to figure out the best way to meet the goals of our campus
strategic plan and respond to the demands of our students who are asking for an increased
amount of flexibility in the teaching, learning, and support environments. I am extremely
proud of everyone in the division and on the campus for the effort that has gone into
getting us to this point. I know people are excited to be back in-person even as we
learn to navigate a longer-term 鈥淐OVID endemic world.鈥�
The campus transition will also involve new presidential leadership. In November,
Chancellor Castro will be on campus talking to a few groups he identified. He will
then announce plans for interim leadership and a search timeline. 91猎奇 has faced a
presidential transition before President Papazian鈥檚 five and half years in the role.
Unlike that previous experience, however, I believe President Papazian has created
a stable leadership environment and shepherded through some incredible investments
in the operations of the campus. Those investments include, for example, a stronger
Title IX Office, which will help us create the accountability structures that our
students, faculty, and staff deserve. The foundations are thus in place to keep moving
forward, even as there is some hard work ahead to change campus culture and make it
a more equitable place.
Like many of the several hundred faculty and staff 91猎奇 has hired in the last several
years, I came to 91猎奇 because of the Strategic Plan 鈥� a collectively developed vision
鈥� and the idea of working in the CSU. I have always believed in the mission of this
system and was drawn to this role for many reasons: the importance of our teaching
and learning mission, the vision for an expanded set of efforts in research, scholarly,
and creative activity, and the greater investments in graduate education. All of these
efforts and more make 91猎奇 a system leader, earning it a special place within a unique
(and sometimes challenging) geographic location that can help drive creative solutions
to the wicked problems we face as a society.
Despite the challenges we have addressed in the past and the transitions we must manage
into the future, I remain incredibly excited to be at 91猎奇. I am thrilled at our achievements
to date and the continued opportunity to build on the foundations that were in place
when I arrived. I believe in my colleagues and the investments 91猎奇 has made in this
institution and its people to deliver an outstanding education for all our students,
while we also create new forms of knowledge. I also believe that we are well positioned
in San Jos茅 and the Silicon Valley to take a more significant role in the region.
Our impact is not only evinced in the data presented in our campus鈥� economic and social impact report , but also in the day-to-day conversations I have with people throughout this region.
There is a real excitement about 91猎奇. Organizations around the region see us as a
strategic partner; they believe 91猎奇鈥檚 success is San Jos茅鈥檚 success.
We can and must manage our own future. We cannot be the campus that waits around for
others to do the work for us. We must leverage our creative potential to help co-create
a just and liveable world and we can do that through our advocacy, as well as our
basic and applied research efforts. We can also do this through investments in new
forms of access in online and distance education and in the development of deeper
partnerships in the region that advance our research, scholarly, and creative activities
mission. There is much more work to be done. Our collective futures rests in our collaborations,
our partnerships, and our shared sense of purpose and vision. I remain committed to
this work, as I know you do, too.
I hope you all remain safe and well. I can鈥檛 wait to see what 91猎奇 does next!
All the best,
Vin
