July 12, 2022

Colleagues:

Thanks for your support and engagement over the past week as I’ve begun my time as interim president. An interim period is an opportunity for focusing and re-grouping, and I’ve spent much of this first week meeting with members of the executive leadership team to discuss a set of changes we will be putting into place, effective immediately:

• Provost and Executive Vice President Mary Pedersen will be stepping down from the position, and continuing in the office as a Special Assistant to the Provost to keep critical initiatives on track. I am grateful to Mary for her continued leadership and willingness to lend her expertise to key areas needing special focus and attention. I have asked Dean of Natural Sciences Jan Nerger to take on the role of Interim Provost, and she has graciously agreed. Jan is our most senior dean, has led CNS with great success for 13 years, and has great depth of knowledge and experience in academic leadership at CSU. I look forward to working with her closely this year.
• In order to give our next president maximum flexibility, we will employ a very flat organizational structure this year. In particular, all vice presidents will report to the president, and we will not use the title Executive VP.
• Vice President for Strategy Jenelle Beavers had in recent months taken on many chief of staff responsibilities in the President’s Office. Given my desire for a flat org chart, the priority that needs to be placed on planning and implementation, and the competing demands on Jenelle’s time, I’ve asked Jenelle to focus her energies on the strategic plan in her role as Vice President for Strategy.
• I have asked Dr. Albert Bimper – currently Associate Vice Provost, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Liberal Arts, and Professor of Ethnic Studies – to take on an additional interim appointment as my chief of staff. He has agreed, and I’m happy to welcome him to the President’s Office team.
• Vice President for Marketing and Communications Yolanda Bevill has been serving temporarily in the dual role of acting VP for Enrollment and Access. We’ve recently made some substantial investments in Marketing and Communications, and we’ll be leaning on Yolanda to lead that implementation. So she’ll be focusing on the VPMC role and I’ll take on the interim oversight of Enrollment and Access, working closely with the excellent team of leaders across that division.
• As I noted in an announcement to deans, directors, and department heads on Friday, Dr. Blake Naughton is leaving his role as VP for Engagement and Extension and returning to the faculty. Kathay Rennels, whom many of you know as a long-time Larimer County commissioner and former AVP of Engagement and Extension, has agreed to take over the interim leadership of that division.

I want to recognize and thank Mary, Jenelle, Yolanda, Jan, Albert, Kathay, and Blake for working through these changes in structure.  We will have a capable team of leaders heading up each of our divisions as we head into the fall, along with some flexibility for a new president coming in to identify key members of their leadership team and office staff.

Best wishes, and have a great rest of your week.

-Rick

Dr. Rick Miranda, Interim President