[Orgvpdue] A brief end-of-spring reflection

[Louie F Rodriguez]

Dear UE Colleagues,

I hope your summer is going well.

This first quarter as VPDUE here at UCR has been an incredibly rewarding one.  I want to take a few moments to reflect on what I have learned and share a little about where we are going.

First, I want to thank you for the warm reception. In many ways, it was best to begin my new journey as VPDUE in the Spring quarter because it gave me a sense of the unit’s flow at a particularly busy time of the year.  Attending commencement was a pure joy since I had the chance to see many of our students graduate and see their proud families and loved ones in the audience.

During my first couple of months, I had a chance to meet in-person with every area across UE.  It was great to see everyone in their respective spaces and learn about the issues you care about and the projects you are tackling in your areas.  As I continue to learn about everyone’s individual and collective roles at UCR and in UE, I’m increasingly hopeful about our future and the success we will produce for all UCR students.

One of the areas that I have dedicated a significant amount of time is looking at data.  I meet frequently with IR and with various staff members across UE.  For me to assess where we are going, it is important to know where we have come from and where we are now.  This becomes our baseline.  I’m looking forward to working in more depth with all of you when we dig deep into our collective work at our in-person retreat in September.

I have become particularly inspired by our potential to build together.  I’m glad we were able to launch our UE Speaker Series on Student Success, and in the near future, we will be launching our UE Pedagogical Practice Series and begin the planning stages for more community engagement efforts.  The latter topic is part of a longer-term goal, and I see tremendous potential in partnership with Student Affairs, Enrollment Services, and all our partners in the Schools and Colleges. This quarter, I also had the honor of observing one of our Biochemistry professors hold an outdoor office hours session with students. In addition, several of us conducted five surprise classroom visits to award-winning faculty members across the campus.

This Spring, I also assembled a committee of Senate faculty to form the Bylaws Advisory Committee, where we drafted UE bylaws, went through a revision process, and arrived at a solid draft.  I sent our Bylaws draft to the Academic Senate for review on June 30 and expect to hear back in the Fall.  This is the first step in finalizing our status as an academic division.  I also worked with our UE colleagues to draft a job description for a Storyteller/Communications Director for UE.  We plan on making significant progress on the search this Summer.

As I look to the Summer and Fall, I see us landing on several priority areas: 1) making continuous progress toward finalizing our status as an academic division; 2) identifying key data points that create actionable steps for UE; 3) finalizing our Strategic Plan which is due at the beginning of  Fall quarter, 4) identifying collaborative projects that move UE towards its key goals including boosting graduation rates, reducing equity gaps, raising participation in high-impact practices, increasing student belonging, and raising student satisfaction, and 5) working relentlessly for student opportunity and equitable outcomes so that UE becomes a national model for student success.  While the quarter ended with the Supreme Court decision to end affirmative action, UE will remain committed to student success and continue to be driven by our principles of equity and opportunity for all UCR students.

Again, I thank you for the welcoming reception I received over the past quarter.  I look forward to seeing everyone soon.

Sincerely,

Louie

Louie F. Rodriguez
Vice Provost and Dean
Division of Undergraduate Education
Professor of Education
University of California, Riverside
Louie.rodriguez at ucr.edu<mailto:Louie.rodriguez at ucr.edu>
ue.ucr.edu<https://ue.ucr.edu/>

Executive Assistant: Mona Nelson
mona.nelson at ucr.edu<mailto:mona.nelson at ucr.edu> (951) 827-7750

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