Provost Challenge
Video of Provost Charlena M. Seymour (view using Windows Media Player)
I want to thank everyone for coming together today for this simply marvelous seminar,
and I want to thank our speaker for delivering pieces of information that helped us pull
things together, because I’m sure that there are a lot of conversations—I know that there
are a lot of conversations on this campus-- about outreach and engagement. But we
haven’t been able to synthesize it and say to ourselves, “Yes, you know, I was thinking
about that as well.”
Of course, I had a few “aha” moments today, and I just want to share them with you,
because it’s going to lead, perhaps, to some more work that we probably know that we
have to do and that we must do.
Whenever I’m trying to figure out what direction to take, I always go back and I look at
our mission statement, because that is supposed to dictate what we are going to do and
what’s important, and what we value. And an important part of our mission statement is
the fact that we are a land-grant institution and it is our obligation to do outreach types of
activities. But in order for this really to become institutionalized, these types of
conversations must begin at the department level and work their way up through the
college. In some instances, most instances, conversations have taken place, but we need
to connect them better. We need to start talking across the deaneries, we need to start
talking across the departments as well as within the departments to make certain that
when faculty come to this campus they understand how we value outreach. And I think
that that isn’t quite clear yet.
It came up today in terms of: Do we include this information in some of the descriptions
that we use to advertise for faculty? Do we use this information in discussions that we
have with students when they come to campus? Do we use this information when we
talk to donors? I think that was brought up earlier, in terms of trying to get donors
interested in engagement.
So there is a lot that we have to do; and in my particular role, one of the things I have to
do is look for consistency. So I’m looking to see if our mission connects with your
mission. Does your mission as a school or college connect with the department’s
mission? As part of that, we’re building a faculty that we want (them) to understand
what we are trying to do at this institution.
Now, here’s where the work comes in. I’m looking at criteria that we have here on
campus with regard to our roles and responsibilities as faculty. We must do research.
We must do teaching. We do research/creative performance, and scholarship. We also
do service. And I’m trying to rack my brain; where is the outreach part of all of this? It’s
in there, and it should be threading itself through all of these various activities. And how
are we going to bring it together to tell a story to all of these external stakeholders, as
well as internal stakeholders, that this is important?
So I’m leaving it up to you as the faculty, who make decisions about what we value on
this campus. I don’t (make those decisions). If you tell me the story, and you tell me it’s
important, I go out and I do something about it.
So you’re telling me today, “Outreach is important.” So how are we going to get this into
campus information? How are we going to get this into the institution and make it
something that is continuous and consistent from one group to another?
So go back and look at your records. Go back and look at your materials. Go back and
think about, “How am I talking about outreach?” You’re doing great stuff about it. But
we have to be consistent in terms of our story, and demonstrating--when we work with
our faculty--that it is important, and rewarding them--rewarding them-- for these
particular activities. Otherwise they won’t continue. All of those behavioral scientists,
they know that, that you have to hold out a carrot in order to get people to do things. But
you also have to show that it’s important and what are the benefits of doing these
particular activities.
So I’m asking you to go back, look at the criteria for tenure and promotion, and other
things that are important to building this campus, and see if words like “outreach” pop up
to the top. And from what I’m hearing today, they certainly should.
Thank you.
Provost, Charlena M. Seymour
University of Massachusetts Amherst
October 22, 2007
