Provost Communication, Monday, December 18, 2023

Good morning and happy Monday. I hope you all had a nice weekend. I am still enjoying the wonderful feelings from commencement this past Friday. 

Commencement

Thanks to each of you- whether you walked, worked, or attended the ceremony, it means so much to our graduates and me. I was particularly inspired by the inclusion of our past honorary doctorate recipients Dr. Jorge Matias (2023), Dr. Betty Chinn (2022), Dr. Walter Lara Sr (2021), and Dr. George Blake (2016) in our CAHSS/CPS ceremony. I also enjoyed the words of our CSU Faculty Trustee Dr. Darlene Yee-Melichar and our alumni speaker Ms. Susan Seaman. If you would like to view the photos and recordings from the commencement ceremonies, they are posted on our main webpage: https://www.humboldt.edu.

Welcome to the New Interim Director of Admissions

On behalf of the Division of Enrollment Management and Student Success (EMSS), I’d like to introduce Aolany Navas, the newest EMSS team member, and our interim Director of Admissions. Aolany comes to us from Pueblo, Colorado, where Dr. Chrissy Holliday was a close colleague. She most recently worked as the Director of Strategic Initiatives within Colorado State University (CSU)- Pueblo's graduate school, helping grow their enrollment significantly in one year, and she also has extensive experience in advising, student onboarding, and admissions.

Program Review Accolades and Gratitude

I wanted to take a moment to say thank you to a number of people who have been involved in significant and impressive work on academic program review this past semester in particular. I have personally participated in at least 25 program reviews (maybe more) this past semester alone aimed at closing the loop, reviewing strengths and opportunities of academic programs, updating goals and accomplishments, and simply and most importantly connecting with department chairs and faculty. This work is vital to our success as an institution and at times extremely time-consuming. The incredible work that our faculty has put into these efforts is laudable. 

Thanks also to Mark Wicklund, Director of Assessment who is what I would call the conductor of this complex orchestra that is program review. Additional words of thanks go to Carmen Bustos-Works, Associate Vice President of Academic Programs, as well as Deans Eric Riggs, Jeff Crane, and Shawna Young and Associate Deans Bori Mazzag, Heather Madar, and Justus Ortega. 

Thanks and have a wonderful Monday.

Jenn Capps

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Jenn Capps, PhD 

Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs 

Cal Poly Humboldt