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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#7030A0'>Good Morning,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#7030A0'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#7030A0'>The following message has been
sent on behalf of Professor Lutz.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#7030A0'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#7030A0'>Thank you.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Hello, all,<br>
<br>
There seems to be some confusion about funding issues, and so I'm sending this
interim note.<br>
<br>
We are holding a series of faculty meetings about the MFA program, in part to
respond to the Graduate Council's recommendations and the external review
report, and in part to make some more wide-ranging decisions about our future
as a program. We will be holding a meeting with graduate students soon as
well.<br>
<br>
In the meantime, we feel we should clarify a couple of procedural issues.<br>
<br>
First, the hierarchy is as follows, from the Dean of CHASS down:<br>
<br>
Dean Stephen Cullenberg<br>
Assoc. Dean Georgia Warnke<br>
Chair: Creative Writing, Tom Lutz;Theatre, Eric Barr<br>
Director, MFA Chris Abani<br>
Grad Advisor: Creative Writing, Laila Lalami; Theatre, Robin Russin<br>
<br>
Questions of procedure should begin with the Grad Advisors.<br>
<br>
Questions involving funding should begin with the MFA Director.<br>
<br>
The staff are charged with implementing decisions that are made by the faculty,
but they cannot make decisions about funding or the allocation of other
resources. The staff implements decisions made by the faculty--thus if
you have a request involving an appointment or anything of an academic nature,
begin with Professors Lalami and Russin, and if you have a direct funding
request begin with Professor Abani. If the faculty has already made
decisions about appointments or other resources, the staff can give you the
appropriate details; if you have a new request you can ask for a decision by
the director, who will either act on his own authority or take it through
channels to the chair, the faculty as a whole, or the Dean. <br>
<br>
We are in the process of rewriting the MFA handbook and other documents to help
make everything as clear and as aboveboard as possible; please bear with us as
we go through these growing pains.<br>
<br>
One thing that everyone should know is that we all work under at least two
different schedules--one in which we do what we should be doing when we should
be doing it (making decisions about TAships, for instance), and one in which we
wait for the Governor, the legislature, the Chancellor, the EVC, and the Dean
to make their decisions in turn and let us know if we can, in fact, do what we
have decided we should do (and this usually happens well past our original
decision, often requiring a revision of those decisions, based on, for
instance, how many TAships we can actually award.)<br>
<br>
As in any case in our communal life, if a student or faculty member feels that
their questions are not being adequately answered, or their complaint or issue
inadequately addressed, they should get in touch with the next person up the
hierarchy. Thus if Prof. Lalami or Prof. Russin can't help you, ask Prof.
Abani; if he can't help, ask me or Prof. Barr; if we can't, ask Dean Warnke; if
she can't, ask Dean Cullenberg. If he can't help, you're probably out of
luck, but you can still take your issue to the EVC and Provost's office.<br>
<br>
That said, we are here to help.<br>
<br>
Tom Lutz for Tom Lutz, Eric Barr, Chris Abani, Laila Lalami, and Robin Russin<span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Calligraphy"'>Adrienne<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Adrienne
L. Thomas<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>MFA Coordinator<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Creative
Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>University
of California, Riverside<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>900
University Ave<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>4145 INTS
Building<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Riverside,
CA 92521<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Voice:
(951) 827-5568 <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Fax: (951)
827-3619 <o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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