Closing thoughts from Interim Chancellor

It has been an honor and a pleasure to serve as interim chancellor of the University of Kansas for the past six weeks. I thought that as I finish my "term" it would be a good time to share my observations about this experience.

First, I'd like to thank everyone in the Chancellor's and the Provost's offices for the help and support they have given me, as well as my leadership team at the KU Medical Center who have done the work to allow me time to be in Lawrence.

I'd also like to thank each of the deans and senior administrators in Lawrence who met with me to talk about their vision, goals, plans, and concerns. These enable me to better understand the goals of the Lawrence and Edwards campuses so I can help in supporting their activities and identifying the connections that can be made between campuses.

Up to this time, I had not had much experience on the Lawrence campus. I'd been to Strong Hall quite often, and had been to museums, receptions and sporting events, but I'd never visited the classroom buildings, libraries or athletics department.

I'd venture that most faculty and staff members on the Kansas City and Wichita campuses have had similar experiences, and some may not even have been to Lawrence. The same may be true in reverse for the faculty and staff on the Lawrence campus in regards to visits to KUMC.

I'd like to see what can be done to change that. I don't have a perfect solution, but I think it starts with communication that helps link people and programs. Everyone is busy and no one has extra time to explore another campus unless there is opportunity for connections and collaborations that lead to better educational outcomes or new research opportunities. I'd like to hear from any of you who have thoughts about how we could facilitate such connections.

During the past six weeks, I made it a point to make my own connections with the Lawrence campus and I'd like to share a few of my observations about what I'd learned.

First, I saw that space - or the lack thereof - is a constant issue in Lawrence, just as it is in Kansas City. Many schools are in buildings too small for their current functions and are not able to increase the number of faculty or student programs. While the School of Pharmacy will be able to nearly double the number of students it educates thanks to a new building in Lawrence and new facility in Wichita, many other schools and departments are also in need of additional classroom, lab and research space.

What the faculty and staff are doing with the space and equipment they have is tremendous. I saw very strong programs in all of the schools. I know there are many I didn't get to hear about and even more I don't have room to discuss here.

Before serving as interim chancellor, I didn't have a full appreciation for how large the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is and the major role it plays in providing many of the courses required for graduation from KU, even for students in the professional schools. It is a significant challenge ensuring enough course sections are offered so that students can take them in the right sequence and graduate on time, and this challenge only grows when faculty and GTA positions aren't filled due to state budget cuts.

I was really impressed by the Studio 804 projects in the School of Architecture. I had driven through Greensburg a few weeks ago and saw the new Arts Center for the town. While Greensburg is a bit of a drive, I'd encourage you to go and see the 5.4.7 Arts Center, as well as the houses Studio 804 has built in Lawrence and Kansas City, Kansas, either in person or at http://studio804.com/.

At the School of Education, I was particularly impressed by two of their programs, one in health, sport and exercise sciences, and the other in psychology and research in education with its very strong psychometrics program. The school is located in J.R. Pearson Hall, a beautiful renovation of a former residence hall.

Continuing this virtual campus tour, I want to recognize the Spencer Museum of Art for its collection and the expertise of its staff. It has an outstanding, well-deserved and growing national reputation and is a treasure for KU and Kansas. The collection has more than 36,000 items and almost all have been digitized and made available at http://www.spencerart.ku.edu.

I also want to mention the new facilities for athletics, particularly the enhancements being made to the educational areas for student-athletes. Kansas Athletics is dedicated to ensuring our student-athletes excel in the classroom, as well as in their sports, and is an asset to the university.

KU is a university for the entire state, so its presence extends to the campuses in Wichita and Overland Park, as well as facilities statewide. While I had been to the Edwards Campus many times, I had never visited the Confucius Institute. Its courses on Chinese language and culture are a resource for the entire region, and enhance KU's mission as an international research university.

I could continue discussing all of the outstanding and interesting programs I saw, but I thought I'd end with a few comments on the similarities and differences between the Lawrence campus and the Kansas City and Wichita campuses.

One item that struck me is that both KUMC campuses are much more centralized in their control and services - especially in management of basic resources such as space, IT, libraries and finances. This is more common for academic medical centers, whereas the Lawrence campus has developed a more decentralized structure, which is more typical of a university. This decentralization has advantages and disadvantages.

I also think that there is more of a sense of central shared priorities in Kansas City. The Wichita campus is now developing its shared priorities under the new dean of medicine there, Dr. David Wilson. Among other things, an acceptance of shared priorities is necessary in order to have a strong centralized capital campaign, something that we all are eagerly anticipating.

But regardless of any small differences, I found that faculty and staff on all campuses are hungry for more communication, particularly about the ways we can collaborate between disciplines and between campuses.

Even more heartening to me is that all feel a real sense of optimism that KU is on an upward trend and is poised for growth and success despite these difficult economic times. This period at the beginning of the tenure of the new chancellor and leader, Bernadette Gray-Little, gives us each individually and collectively an opportunity to examine what we do and how we do it. I think we will all benefit from this time of reflection as we embrace the changes that come.

Thanks again for this incredible opportunity of serving as your interim chancellor. I look forward to continuing to work with you all to enhance cross-campus communications and collaborations and invite you to visit the Kansas City or Wichita campuses at your earliest opportunity.

Best wishes,
Barbara F. Atkinson, MD
KU Interim Chancellor and Executive Vice Chancellor for the KU Medical Center