Dear UNT faculty and staff,
Over the past five years, we have worked hard as a caring campus to improve how we support our students, faculty and staff through a variety of activities. Many of these activities require collaboration and integration across academic and academic support areas. Student success, faculty and staff mediation support, problem solving, and now the organization of strategic planning across campus are complex tasks that are often handled by the Office of the President and increasingly by the Chief of Staff.
This year as we begin to build our vision of the future, I asked Dr. Debbie Rohwer to accept an expanded role as Vice President for Planning and Chief of Staff, to support our caring culture and formalize her already prominent role in these critical areas. In essence, she will become a cultural concierge and “collaborator in chief” for groups across campus. I would encourage you to provide Dr. Rohwer with your input on these campus-wide initiatives in the following ways:
• Provide feedback via webform on UNT's branding, mission, purpose, vision and strategic plan. Your opinions will aid the university planning process.
• Submit stories of student success so we can celebrate our caring campus and highlight the countless ways in which we help students succeed.
If you are experiencing any challenges on campus, I encourage you to make Dr. Rohwer aware so that she can assist in possible resolution plans. To have individual problems discussed, much like our previous ombuds resource, complete the Problem Solving Concierge webform. If faculty or staff are experiencing an interpersonal dispute on campus, you can request voluntary, confidential mediation at mediation.unt.edu.
We hope that these added resources will help to build the caring culture that we celebrate as an essential part of our identity. Please don't hesitate to contact Dr. Rohwer at Debbie.Rohwer@unt.edu for added context on any of these initiatives or if you have a great idea for how we can better support our university mission.
UNT Proud,
Neal Smatresk
President
@UNTPrez