From the COO

Fall welcome to SRS

Anonymous — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 18:44:00 +0000

Fall welcome to SRS Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 09/06/2022 - 12:44

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To bring about change, all of our voices are essential

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Oct 2021 15:34:40 +0000

To bring about change, all of our voices are essential Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 10/28/2021 - 09:34

As many of you know, I am a recovering lawyer.

For almost 25 years, that’s one of the ways I defined myself, along with being a husband, a father and a friend. It was part of my identity and still is in many ways.

Lawyers have their own culture, of course. Our training requires us to analyze problems in certain ways. We learn our own style of professional writing––which is often not very readable––and we have our own vocabulary. Like anyone who enters a new culture, I had to learn new traditions and conventions, and I gradually found my place in the profession.

It’s the same for almost everyone on campus. The folks in our Office of Information Technology have a culture and language that are different, say, from the culture and language embraced by faculty and staff in the chemistry department.

Indeed, each school, academic department, residence hall and athletic team has its own personality. We’re not IBM in the 1970s, when the tech giant attempted to make everyone fit into the same corporate shell to the point where management disapproved when anyone wore something other than a white shirt and tie to the office.

I wouldn’t want to work or study in a place that was trying to make everyone fit the same image, but I do wonder whether we are spending enough time consciously trying to improve our culture both within our units and across the entire campus.

My sense is that we need to do more. I hear from people who don’t feel seen and don’t feel valued. I talk to people who aren’t sure where we stand as an institution and believe that we don’t always live our values. I believe we need to address these cultural issues because they keep us from better serving our students, faculty and staff.

Cultural change happens––but it doesn’t happen in a single moment, and it doesn’t happen without effort. As we decide where to focus our efforts, we can choose to either, one, make our best guesses or, two, try to better understand where we most need to improve.

Staff: You can find a unique invitation to particpate in the Campus Culture Survey in your email inboxes.

I believe the second option is the better one, which is why I’m asking you to take the Campus Culture Survey before it closes on Nov. 21. I took the survey last week, and in doing so added my experience on campus to the data that will give us insight into the campus’s culture and how we can be more inclusive.

In the months ahead, I’ll watch closely for the survey results. We’re going to share them broadly across the campus and use them to guide our actions going forward. Within SRS, I will ask each unit to come together and decide upon the actions to improve its own culture. We’ll also find common challenges that reach across units that we can address together.

Yet, even before the results are available, I have learned a bit more about myself just from answering the questions. The survey asked me to share my experiences at CU and to consider how they related to my identities. So, for example, I answered that I have been in meetings where someone has talked over me or rolled their eyes while I was speaking. I then had to answer whether I thought that those behaviors related to my personal identities and, as a white male in a position of authority and privilege, I didn’t think so.

In asking me to think consciously about those questions, the survey reinforced for me that my colleagues, with whom I interact daily and care about deeply, could experience the same behaviors and feel dismissed because of their ethnicity, race, national origin, gender identity or sexual orientation. It’s a reminder to me to try to be more conscious of how I interact with others and to recognize that what might not have an impact on me could have a real impact on those around me.

I’m grateful I was able to take the survey, as the experience will help me to be a better leader and a better colleague. I also care about making CU a better place, and the survey will be an important tool to help us in the near future and in the years ahead. Thank you for taking the time to complete the survey and thank you in advance for engaging in the discussions that will help us improve after the results become available.

Your voice matters.

Thanks for who you are and all you do,

Pat

As many of you know, I am a recovering lawyer. For almost 25 years, that’s one of the ways I defined myself, along with being a husband, a father and a friend. It was part of my identity and still is in many ways.

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Our Core Mission? Supporting Student Success

Anonymous — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 17:24:25 +0000

Our Core Mission? Supporting Student Success Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 09/30/2021 - 11:24

Each weekday across Strategic Resources and Support, thousands of people wake up, grab a cup of coffee, drive to campus or log onto their computers at home and perform the many tasks necessary to keep the �鶹ӰԺ running.

The varying types and complexity of those tasks are staggering to think about, and when people ask me about CU �鶹ӰԺ and what SRS does, I often explain that most of us are not the faculty who are teaching in classrooms or performing research in labs. Rather, we are the people who support the university’s educational and research endeavors.

Think about CU �鶹ӰԺ. It’s a society of 38,669 students and 10,204 faculty and staff. We provide medical care for students, mental health resources across our community, and food and housing for thousands of students who call the campus home. Each member of our community has an email account and accesses our IT systems. We have a police force that protects the campus––a small city that includes classrooms, labs, libraries, rec centers and residence halls in more than 200 buildings. We communicate with more than 450,000 people who are connected to CU �鶹ӰԺ as students, parents and alumni and contribute more than $4.2 billion to Colorado’s economy.

With so much going on each day, it’s easy to get lost in what’s immediately in front of us, what’s in our inbox and getting to the next meeting. It sometimes helps to take a step back and ask the question, “Why are we here?”

It’s been a little bit easier for me to answer that question over the past few weeks. Students are back on campus, and you can see them walking to classes, dining in the C4C, and filling Folsom Field for football games. In addition, I’m teaching an in-person class––and it feels good to be in the classroom interacting with students. In my mind, the ultimate answer to the question, “Why are we here?” should be the same for all of us: We are here to help students succeed.

It doesn’t matter what buildings we work in, what our job titles are or what we do each day. Support people at the IT help desk help students get loaner laptops when their computers break down; financial aid counselors help students get emergency grants that enable them to stay in school; licensed social workers at Wardenburg help students who have lost a friend or a family member; facilities management staff who clear sidewalks after a snowstorm make it possible for students to get to class safely; and campus safety officers escort students to their cars after they leave the library in the evening.

Everyone, in some way, makes it possible for our students to work toward degrees that will change their lives. Yet, as much as we’re doing, we need to do more.

If you look at CU �鶹ӰԺ’s six-year retention and graduation rates, we don’t do as well as most of our Association of American Universities (AAU) peers, and, even more concerning, the rates haven’t improved much in the past few years. It’s not because we haven’t invested in student success, as we know that we’ve often invested as much or more in student success measures than other universities. We’re going to be talking more in the weeks ahead about what we need to do as a campus to address this challenge.

If students leave without degrees because they don’t feel welcome at CU �鶹ӰԺ or we haven’t been able to meet their academic needs, they are not just statistics who end up in our graduation rate numbers. They represent lost opportunities. We’ve lost the opportunity to make their futures brighter, lost the opportunity to have them be a part of our community, and lost the opportunity to have them share positive CU experiences with others as Forever Buffs. And these losses are compounded because we know that more of our diverse students leave CU without a degree. If we truly care about having a diverse and inclusive campus, we must do a better job of retaining and graduating our diverse students.

So, what am I asking of each person in SRS?

Please do two things:

Reflect on what you do and how it relates to the student experience. Every person in SRS should be able to tell a student or a parent how their work helps a student succeed. It keeps us grounded in our mission, and I consider myself lucky to work in an organization filled with talented, passionate and caring people who bring their skills to bear for our students’ benefit.

Interact with a student: Some of us interact with students all the time. Others may go a long time without interacting with a student. If you have a chance, spend a moment talking with a student. Find out where they’re from. Ask what they’re studying. Thank them for being a part of our community. We can help create a sense of belonging.

Finally, today I’ve focused on students, but I need to thank you for all that you’ve done as we’ve returned to campus. I’m immensely grateful.

Thanks for all you do,

Pat

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Welcome back

Anonymous — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 20:27:11 +0000

Welcome back Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 08/19/2021 - 14:27

Puppy Harley meets CU mascot Chip. (CU photo by Casey Cass)

Hi Everyone!

Last week, I brought my new puppy to campus, and together we had one of our most enjoyable times of the past year when we attended the Buffs Back Together gathering on Farrand Field. It was my first time to be able to meet hundreds of the people who make the campus a wonderful and vibrant place. After so many months of seeing people on Zoom screens, I appreciated the opportunities to thank people for their hard work and to talk to them about how they were feeling. And Harley had a chance to meet Chip!

What struck me most was how much people care about CU, the people with whom we work, and the students we serve. I know that many businesses do important work, but I would respectfully suggest that our work is among the most important in Colorado. Simply stated: CU changes people’s lives for the better.

As an example, thousands of first-year students are moving into residence halls this week and turning the first page on a new chapter in their lives. In the next few years, they will gain knowledge, both in and out of the classroom, that will enable them to form relationships, participate meaningfully in civic life, and embark on their careers.

Or take another example, look at the research that is done across the campus. CU faculty are taking on the toughest challenges of our times––climate change, sustainability, quantum computing, disease transmission––and finding solutions that extend far beyond the campus. We live in a time when we need new solutions and the ability to change the way we think about our problems. And, each day, people on the CU �鶹ӰԺ campus create new knowledge, find those solutions, and share them with the world.

And, as inspiring as our successes have been, our work is incomplete. Too many students come to CU and leave without a degree. Too many members of our community do not feel heard or valued for their efforts. We can and must do better. SRS can help CU become more diverse, more inclusive, more resilient, and more innovative.

For the past year, we’ve all focused on getting through a pandemic, and I’m proud of the work that you did to sustain us through a crisis. As we approached the fall, I was looking forward to putting COVID in our rear view mirrors and returning to “normal.”

What we’ve seen nationally, with the rise of the delta variant and the cases that it brings, tells me that we’re still going to be dealing with COVID for months and possibly longer. We created a vaccination requirement for the campus to try to reach levels of immunity that will enable us to return to mostly in-person instruction and research. We need to be able to provide those opportunities to meet our academic and research missions. Yet, we’ve also provided opportunities for employees to seek exemptions from the vaccine requirement if they feel the need to do so. I strongly urge that we pursue the vaccine consistent with each of our unique medical, religious and personal needs, as it will be an important means of protecting our community.

We’ve also created a masking requirement for indoor public spaces on campus. We hope that this will be a temporary requirement that allows us to minimize the number of cases that we’ll experience on campus and to protect those in our community who can’t be vaccinated. Even in spaces that are not public, some will choose to wear masks, and some of us may ask others to consider wearing a mask when in their presence. That’s OK. By being considerate and understanding of each other’s circumstances, we’ll demonstrate care and find ways of bridging our gaps and supporting each other.

Not everyone will be back on campus full time, while some of us have never left and will continue to serve CU �鶹ӰԺ in public-facing roles. The fall semester will be a time where we find out what works, what doesn’t, and what we need to adjust in order to make it work better.

What we can’t do, however, is use COVID as an ongoing reason to defer the work we have before us. I hope that you will approach the fall semester with passion and a strong sense of purpose as our students return and classes begin.

Thank you for all you do,

Pat

Hi Everyone! Last week, I brought my new puppy to campus, and together we had one of our most enjoyable times of the past year when we attended the Buffs Back Together gathering on Farrand Field. It was my first time to be able to meet hundreds of the people who make the campus a wonderful and vibrant place.

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Innovation and leadership: legacies to be proud of

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Jun 2021 21:55:28 +0000

Innovation and leadership: legacies to be proud of Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 06/30/2021 - 15:55

Last week, CU �鶹ӰԺ wished three of its longtime leaders––Katherine Erwin (Human Resources), Larry Levine (Information Technology) and Gwen Pomper (Enrollment Management)––a wonderful retirement after years of service to the campus. Together, they contributed 58 years of skill and expertise to CU �鶹ӰԺ, and I’m tremendously grateful for all they did to lead their organizations.

So, the question arises: What are their legacies?

For each of them, I could provide a list of things that occurred in their organizations during their watch. Katherine established the HR Service Center and created a dedicated diversity, equity and inclusion unit. Gwen created the Chancellor’s Achievement Scholarship and the CU Promise program. Larry developed a dedicated research computing group and helped us develop learning management systems. All of those things are great and helped propel the campus in the right direction.

But that’s not what I will think about as their legacies. Organizations change and evolve over time. Some programs morph into something else. In 10 years, Human Resources, Information Technology and Enrollment Management may look very different than they do today. In fact, I’ll be very disappointed if their units haven’t changed because lack of change means we’re not doing what’s necessary to serve CU �鶹ӰԺ’s students, faculty, and staff.

Their legacies are not in the programs they created, but instead lie in the type of leadership they provided. Each day, Katherine, Gwen, and Larry brought care, compassion and integrity to their work. They mentored people in their units, listened to their concerns, and focused on making CU �鶹ӰԺ a better place.

Since I joined CU �鶹ӰԺ’s campus, we’ve had to make some challenging decisions. How do we support remote learning? Should we issue housing refunds? How do we make sure employees can work remotely when they need to? Which employees are essential workers who need to be on campus? Do we need to reduce our budget? How do we distribute federal funds to students? Do we need to require furloughs or pay cuts? Do we require employees to participate in COVID testing? Can we require employees to be vaccinated? What exemptions to the vaccine requirement will we recognize?

Every decision was hard.

In these conversations, without fail, Katherine, Gwen and Larry asked the right questions. How will this decision affect employees who have children at home during the pandemic? Will we be able to support students who don’t have good internet access at home? How can students most quickly receive emergency grants? What personal protective equipment do employees need? Their questions focused on the people on our campus, and they looked for solutions to help students, faculty and staff be successful.

Those are legacies to be proud of.

I hope we can build upon those legacies in the weeks, months, and years to come. Not every decision we made in the past year was perfect––far from it. Not every decision we’ll make this year will be perfect, but we’ll be well served if we follow Katherine, Gwen and Larry, ground our discussions and our work in promoting the success of our community, and never lose sight of the fact that every important decision affects people in our organizations.

Putting people at the center of decisions takes conscious effort. I hope it’s an organizational muscle we can learn how to exercise and make stronger. That’s one of the reasons I’m excited that Kristen Alipit, director of organizational effectiveness and engagement in Finance and Business Strategy, is going to be leading a series of workshops through the Innovation Buffs program focused upon the principles of human-centered design. These workshops are based upon bringing human-centered design to our diversity, equity and inclusion work, and you’ll be reading more about Innovation Buffs in CU �鶹ӰԺ Today later this week. I’m hopeful that we’ll use this program to make the campus more inclusive, while also learning how to give a stronger voice to our community, better understanding human needs, and allowing experience to guide our actions.

Why do I like human-centered design principles? The short answer is because I’m a human, and I believe that understanding the problems people face in their lives and in their work is the key to solving them. We do better when we listen, when we ask people to bring their creativity to bear in overcoming challenges, when we recognize opportunities, and when we adapt to changing needs.

Sometimes, we talk about “CU �鶹ӰԺ” or “the campus” or “the university.” It’s a special place with decades of history. Each piece of that history had its foundation because someone cared about a student, wanted to conduct research that would make someone’s life better, or wanted to make sure that someone had a good job.

I’m very grateful to all of you who help us be better people––and I’m grateful to Katherine, Gwen and Larry for sharing their legacies with us.

Have a great July,

Pat

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As you head into summer, recharge and find what gives you joy

Anonymous — Wed, 26 May 2021 21:27:40 +0000

As you head into summer, recharge and find what gives you joy Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/26/2021 - 15:27

Here’s my confession: I’m a MAMIL.

Some of you may know what that means, but for those who don’t, please allow me to explain.

I am a middle-aged man in Lycra. One of those people who you see out on the road, pedaling a bike, pretending I’m faster than a three-toed sloth and wearing Spandex clothing that makes my teenage daughter cringe when I come walking down the stairs. We’re a common species around �鶹ӰԺ. Not likely to be invited to parties.

But the fact that I’m a MAMIL is much less important than how I came to be one, which is what I wanted to share with you today.

In 2009, my job with CU was in the legal office, and I was one of the attorneys who represented the university in court. When I went to trial, it was all consuming. I didn’t eat very well, didn’t sleep very much, and didn’t take care of myself. And when I came out of a particularly long trial that spring, I was exhausted and ready to walk away from CU.

One of my college roommates, who was working at Children’s Hospital Colorado, reached out and said we needed to ride the Courage Classic, a three-day bike ride in Summit County. I hadn’t ridden a bike in more than a decade, but knew I needed something to get me moving, so I bought a bike and bike shorts. And off I rode . . . and it was no fun. I had to walk up portions of Vail Pass as thousands of riders passed me, but I finished, and I decided that I was going to get better.

Fast forward 12 years, and I’ve ridden 30,510 miles (but who’s counting?) and found something that helps me relieve the stress of work and life. I kept riding the Courage Classic and raised more than $50,000 for Children’s Hospital Colorado. Riding a bike has become part of my identity––I’m a husband, father, son, friend, colleague, lawyer, and a cyclist.

So, why am I telling you this? I imagine nothing is worse than listening to a middle-aged, Lycra-clad guy tell you about his exploits on a bike.

Just like when I was tired and burned out, so many of us are exhausted from this past semester. SRS had challenge, after challenge, after challenge put in front of us. And time and time again, you stepped up, found creative solutions, persevered, and made it possible for thousands of students to walk across a virtual stage to receive their diplomas. You changed lives for the better, and I will be eternally grateful for your commitment to CU and your devotion to the university’s mission.

We’re in a time of transition, both as a campus and a community. After more than a year of being separated, this summer will be a time when we’re reforging bonds with family members, friends and colleagues. Some of you never left the campus, and I’m so thankful for those who supported our students in a time of extra need. Some of you will be coming back to campus soon for the first time in a long time, and I believe that we have the potential to rebuild a sense of belonging together.

And just like how I found a way to recharge in 2009, it’s crucial that you find what gives you joy and grab it with both hands in the weeks ahead––otherwise we won’t be able to realize the potential to make the campus a better and more vibrant place in the fall. Please go for a hike, take your dog to the park, spend some time in your garden, read a James Patterson novel, or paint a landscape. Whatever gives you a sense of perspective and solace, I hope you take the time to do it.

I came to the campus just a few weeks before the pandemic, and I’ve spent countless hours on Zoom in the last 15 months. I can’t tell you how excited I am to meet many of you for the first time in the months ahead, look you in the eye, thank you for your service to CU, and begin planning for the next chapter in the CU story.

See you soon!

Pat

Here’s my confession: I’m a MAMIL. Some of you may know what that means, but for those who don’t, please allow me to explain.

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Justice, respect and empathy

Anonymous — Tue, 27 Apr 2021 14:45:48 +0000

Justice, respect and empathy Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 04/27/2021 - 08:45

Pat standing beneath the Norlin Charge at the Center for Academic Success and Engagement (CASE). CU photo by Glenn Asakawa.

Everyone stands in respect when a jury enters a courtroom to deliver a verdict.

I spent a large portion of my career in courtrooms, and I’ve stood in respect when the jury rendered a verdict in my cases, even when the verdict was against my clients.

The jurors have earned that respect, no matter what their verdict is, because they have performed an arduous task. It’s a tremendous responsibility to represent your fellow citizens in judgment of another person, and, contrary to how it sometimes appears from afar, a juror’s decision is always hard.

Last week, a jury determined that a former police officer was guilty of murdering George Floyd. In that moment, the jurors saw Mr. Floyd, said that his life mattered, and held the former officer accountable for a crime not just against Mr. Floyd but against the community in which he lived.

A jury’s verdict represents a judgment about something that occurred in the past, and juries are never asked to predict the future. So, while it’s fair to say that the jury’s verdict will send a message, it doesn’t mean that society has fundamentally changed since Mr. Floyd’s death, and since we learned about the deaths of Daunte Wright, Adam Toledo and others during the trial and after the jury rendered its verdict.

I’ve asked myself what I can take away from these past weeks.

Stepping back from the criminal justice system, I again watched the video of Mr. Floyd’s last minutes. When I saw the video of the officer kneeling on Mr. Floyd’s neck, as he struggled for his life and said he couldn’t breathe, it was clear to me the officer didn’t recognize Mr. Floyd as a human being. He failed to show any empathy.

I could have said that the officer failed to show any respect for Mr. Floyd. That would also be true, but I don’t think respect is enough in unkind times. It takes something more.

I’m asking all of you to help build a culture within SRS and CU �鶹ӰԺ that emphasizes empathy and kindness.

“Empathy is the ability we have to notice someone in pain and to feel some part of that pain.”* When we share in each other’s experience and picture their feelings, which include not just pain but joy, sorrow, fear, and love, “we’re also able to imagine the consequences of actions not yet taken, and we can be motivated in our choices by the imagined feelings of the people those actions will affect.”

In other words, when we have empathy, we’ll make wiser decisions and have a more just, equitable, and inclusive campus. Our best tool in building empathy is actively listening, particularly to those whose voices are marginalized. “If you seek out those voices who have been actively silenced and listen to and believe what they have to say, you’ll be far less likely to make a mistake that stops you from empathizing.”

I’m trying to learn to be a better listener and reflecting on how my decisions impact others in ways that I didn’t anticipate because I couldn’t empathize better. I feel lucky to be surrounded by talented SRS leaders who demonstrate empathy and whom I learn from every day.

One of these empathetic leaders is Chief Human Resource Officer Katherine Erwin, who will retire at the end of June. Katherine has served the CU �鶹ӰԺ campus for 27 years, beginning as a Norlin Library instructor in 1991 and ultimately serving for five years in her current role. Please read about her journey at CU �鶹ӰԺ in this month’s Superhero profile. Katherine is a remarkable person who leads with skill and empathy.

As I write, I know being empathetic won’t cure all of our problems. We will have setbacks. We won’t be able to avoid hard decisions. But I hope that listening to each other, seeking to be kind, and trying to understand each other’s perspectives openly will help us build trust and make better choices about the campus we want to become. I’m excited and hopeful for our future.

Thank you for all you’ve done this year. I can’t adequately express how much I appreciate it.

Pat

*All quotes from author Henry James Garrett’s, “This Book Will Make You Kinder: An Empathy Handbook”

Everyone stands in respect when a jury enters a courtroom to deliver a verdict. I spent a large portion of my career in courtrooms, and I’ve stood in respect when the jury rendered a verdict in my cases, even when the verdict was against my clients.

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When �鶹ӰԺ grieves –– CU grieves

Anonymous — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 14:38:48 +0000

When �鶹ӰԺ grieves –– CU grieves Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 03/31/2021 - 08:38

CU �鶹ӰԺ: These two words link the University of Colorado and the �鶹ӰԺ community.

You can’t talk about CU without �鶹ӰԺ, and across the world, when people think of �鶹ӰԺ, they also think about CU. It has been this way since the 1860s, when �鶹ӰԺ first fought off challenges from Burlington and other Colorado communities that sought to serve as the site of the state’s flagship university, and in the 1870s, when 104 �鶹ӰԺ citizens raised $16,806.66 to lay the cornerstone of Old Main. CU would not exist without the kindness and generosity of our neighbors.

That is why, when �鶹ӰԺ grieves, CU also grieves.

In the past month, we’ve grieved twice. First, when a riot threatened the health and safety of the University Hill neighborhood, and then just over a week ago when a gunman robbed �鶹ӰԺ of 10 of its own at the Table Mesa King Soopers grocery store. Ten people with hopes, dreams, fears, friends and families. Just like any of us.

In these two moments, CU’s place in our community stood in stark contrast. In the first case, I was ashamed and embarrassed that some among us harmed our neighbors and the police officers who are sworn to protect us. In the second case, I’ve never been prouder to be a member of the CU family. Our CU �鶹ӰԺ Police Department responded with bravery together with the �鶹ӰԺ Police Department in the immediate defense of those in danger. And in the days since, so many have demonstrated care and compassion. Our mental health providers, student affairs team, human resources specialists, and so many others who had already stepped up time and time again once again gave selflessly of themselves.

We have endured so much in the past year. None of us will emerge unchanged.

CU will recover. So will �鶹ӰԺ. But we must recover together.

We have all read about our “town-and-gown” relationship, and I understand what the phrase means, but it suggests that the town and the university are divided, and we’re too intertwined to think that way. CU has been part of �鶹ӰԺ for 145 years. Throughout that time, we’ve built and reinforced our bonds with the clear understanding that our success and well-being depend on how well we support each other.

Just look at the connections between us. Our partners include neighborhood associations, community organizations, local businesses and the �鶹ӰԺ Chamber to name only a few. We work closely with many other city entities, including the �鶹ӰԺ City Council, the �鶹ӰԺ Police Department, �鶹ӰԺ Fire-Rescue, and the city’s planning and development, transportation, and climate and sustainability offices.

We are also thankful for our county partners such as �鶹ӰԺ County Public Health, the sheriff’s office and the district attorney’s office. Each of these partners provides resources and support to our campus during natural and human-caused disasters, large campus events, long-term planning initiatives and public health crises. Not a day passes where CU and �鶹ӰԺ don't connect to each other.

In the weeks and months ahead, we must strengthen these connections, following the lead of people such as Associate Vice Chancellor JB Banks, who is leading Student Affairs while Vice Chancellor Akirah Bradley is on parental leave. JB and his team have been working with the Office of Government and Community Engagement to build relationships with our students and neighbors on the Hill and to improve their collective experience. I’m also grateful to CUPD Chief Doreen Jokerst and her officers, Acting Dean of Students Devin Cramer, Director of Off-Campus Housing and Community Relations Jeff Morris, Director of Local Government and Community Relations Kim Calomino, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Public Policy and Advocacy Kirsten Schuchman, and so many others who work every day to build stronger attachments between our campus and our community.

Today, I also invite you to join me in celebrating Frances Draper as she retires. Frances most recently served as a senior strategic advisor for CU �鶹ӰԺ’s Office of Government and Community Engagement, but that was the last of many roles where she served as a conduit between CU and the city of �鶹ӰԺ. From the mayor’s office, to �鶹ӰԺ City Council meetings to the �鶹ӰԺ Chamber––Frances has been a relentless champion who helped CU and �鶹ӰԺ achieve more together than we ever could have achieved apart. Please read about her contributions and thank her for making our future bright.

We’ve been distant from each other for more than a year. Many of you are struggling, and I urge you to reach out to family, friends, and colleagues, as those personal connections help us heal. If you need help, please contact the Faculty and Staff Assistance Program. While we have important work ahead of us, I again urge supervisors to be flexible and empathetic in the days and weeks ahead. Small gestures of kindness, both at work and in our communities, are the foundation of renewal.

CU �鶹ӰԺ. Together.

Pat

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Our values and our people are our priorities

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 15:37:36 +0000

Our values and our people are our priorities Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 02/25/2021 - 08:37

As a college freshman in 1988, I was positive I would major in journalism, become an investigative reporter and write cutting-edge news stories about important issues. A year later, I realized my heart wasn't in journalism, so I quit to study political science and philosophy, went to law school, and practiced law for almost 25 years. This week, I will celebrate my one-year “workiversary” as chief operating officer on the CU �鶹ӰԺ campus––and I’m glad I changed paths.

Patrick O'Rourke, Chief Operating Officer

Almost immediately after I began my job, people began asking, “What are your goals for SRS and the campus?” and I had to respond frankly, “I am not quite sure yet.” After all, I hadn’t been on the campus long, hadn’t worked with the SRS units, and I didn’t want to presume that I understood how everything fit together well enough to chart a course. Unlike the 18-year-old who went to college so sure of himself, I’m glad I didn’t come to CU �鶹ӰԺ with a fixed agenda, because it certainly would have been turned upside down in the first few weeks.

We’re now in a different place than we were a year ago, and I’m very hopeful for what comes next. I don’t think we’re going back anytime soon to what we thought of as “normal” a year ago, but our experiences of the past year will no doubt shape our future. We will think differently about how students learn, how we work, and the culture we are creating together.

It’s impossible to embrace someone without opening your arms, and as we consider how to embrace the future, I invite you to consider the words of the Dalai Lama, “Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.” I’ve been working with my team, and together we’ve discussed the values guiding our work. I want to share them with you, both in hopes that they will help us make better shared decisions and for you to hold me accountable if my actions don’t reflect them.

Transparency: We must trust each other. It’s unreasonable to ask people to trust leadership blindly, and I’m committed to sharing information with you. It is important to be open and honest about our finances, operations, aspirations and vulnerabilities.
Agency: We must entrust people to do their best work, allow them to assume responsibility for decisions, and hold each other accountable for progress toward our goals. We will find the barriers that are holding us back and knock them down.
Empathy: We must value people for their perspectives, respectfully engage with them, and seek to understand how our decisions affect others. People think of CU �鶹ӰԺ as a place, which is true, but its heart lies with the people who study, teach, work, create and live within it. Sharing in each other’s pain, joy, sorrow, excitement and anxiety will make us kinder, help us listen more carefully, and enable us to find better solutions to our challenges.

Former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden said something that resonated with me, ”Good values are like a magnet––they attract good people.” My hope is that if we have good values, we can build upon the strengths we already have, continue to attract and retain passionate and talented people, and create a place where all members of the CU �鶹ӰԺ community feel seen, heard, engaged, and rewarded for their efforts.

In this month’s edition of SRS News, I invite you to read about the people who are embracing our future and CU’s potential. They include OIT’s Aisha Jackson, who is bridging the academic and technology worlds at CU to support student and faculty success, and John Gleason, who is working with regional partners to promote more effective planning, maintenance and operations for campus facilities at Colorado’s educational institutions.

As we continue our work over the coming months, we will share more of these stories and our plans for the future, including building a better and more inclusive campus. For now, you have my commitment to help us advance a person-centered organization that recruits, retains and develops staff in ways that foster greater engagement and trust.

These are the opportunities I welcome as we grow together as a team, and I thank you for all you do. The more I learn about SRS people––about our strengths and our common mission––the more I am confident I made the right decision a year ago.

Thank you all,

Pat

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Little known fact: I love superheroes…and SRS has a lot

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 15:33:23 +0000

Little known fact: I love superheroes…and SRS has a lot Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 01/27/2021 - 08:33

Most people would describe me as a pretty serious person, so it might surprise them to learn that––while I still read law review articles sometimes––I read a bunch more comic books! My mom took this picture when I was 5 years old. Each morning, she pinned a red towel to my shirt, and I became Superman. I’d ride my Big Wheel up and down the street, my cape furling behind me. As I got older, I put away the cape, but I still wanted to be a superhero. Years later, when my son, Ryan, was only 8 years old, I began taking him to see Marvel movies, and we watched all of them together.

Every great superhero story forces the superhero not only to confront a huge challenge (fighting a supervillain, saving humanity), but also to overcome a personal weakness. If the story were just about someone showing off their superpowers, then no one would be able to empathize with the character. In one of my favorite stories, Spider-Man was trapped in a collapsed building, battered and broken, and the question was not whether he could beat up a bad guy, but whether he would find strength in the darkness, carry on when no one would blame him for giving up, and lift an impossible load.

By that definition, SRS has a lot of superheroes.

The last nine months have posed so many challenges to our country and to CU �鶹ӰԺ: COVID, financial uncertainty, social inequity and political strife. I’m so proud of how our SRS teams have found ways to face every obstacle, create solutions that no one would have imagined a year ago, and enable CU to fulfill its mission and enrich the lives of those whose study, research, work and live in our community. You’ve done that while grappling with tremendous personal hurdles––illness of friends and family, furloughs, remote work for some and in-person work for others, caring for children while schools are closed, addressing racism and discrimination in our own lives, and being isolated from those we care about. We’ve lost much, and we need to recognize the hurt we’ve felt, knowing that we’ve gained strength and resilience.

When COVID struck our community, we put this newsletter on pause, but the time has come for us to bring it back. As we do so, I hope it serves two goals:

The first is to provide you with information about what’s going on in the SRS teams and to keep you informed.
The second is to highlight some of the people in SRS who are doing cool things, both personally and professionally, whom we might otherwise not learn about.

Right now, there’s someone training to climb Mount Everest, volunteering at a women’s shelter or serving as a kidney donor for a neighbor. I’d love to know your stories and hope that you will share them with us by clicking on the “Share a Success Story” link in our newsletter.

There’s one other thing that superheroes do: They provide hope. You have given me hope that we’ll create a better, more inclusive workplace, hope that we can be kind to each other, hope that we can be strong in the face of adversity, and hope for CU �鶹ӰԺ’s future.

As for the future, it is with gratitude and appreciation that I share with you today that I have accepted an offer from Chancellor Phil DiStefano to serve as the university’s chief operating officer on a permanent basis. I look forward to working with you all to advance our priorities and to develop solutions for many of the unexpected challenges life throws our way.

Thank you for all you’ve done, all you’re doing now, and all that you’ll do in the future. It’s an honor to serve beside you.

Pat

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