Priorities for 2020-21: A message to the community

June 30, 2020

Dear Price community,

Tomorrow I will begin as the interim dean.  It has been a privilege to learn more about the Price School over the past few months, and I am grateful to everyone who has reached out to welcome me. Our conversations have given me a deeper understanding of all that you do in service of our mission. I also understand that we are in a challenging time and I know many of you feel uncertainty about our path forward. With that in mind, I’d like to share my top priorities for the coming year:

Establish a social justice initiative: LaVonna Lewis and Erroll Southers will co-chair a Social Justice Advisory Board to make actionable proposals to advance research and education in this area. The board will advise me on potential new initiatives—building on current strengths—related but not limited to policing, criminal justice, and representative governance. Recommendations will help direct the School’s priorities, including fundraising.

Break down institutional silos: Effective and collaborative communication between programs, research centers, and departments is essential. I hope to foster teamwork around common goals, integrating the research centers and departments into a coordinated programmatic vision and set of efficient activities.

Strengthen undergraduate programs: Our undergraduate degrees are crucial to our ongoing mission. I will work with the relevant Department Chairs to further develop an engaging and relevant curriculum that has already been quite successful.

Increase transparency: I want to improve the communication between the Dean’s office, the departments, and the research centers. My (virtual) door is open and I hope to be quite accessible. This includes open communication about finances and other operational matters.

Thank you for placing your trust in me and supporting me in these efforts. It is an honor to work alongside you and I look forward to what we will accomplish together.

Sincerely,