August 12, 2015
From the Provost’s Desk: Launching a new academic year, @KStateProvost and website changes
Dear Colleagues,
The new academic year is right around the corner, and the energy around campus is starting to pick up as more students and faculty gear up for the start of the semester. It has been an exciting and productive summer on a number of fronts. Both physically and organizationally, the university is in a phase of growth and advancement. The summer has provided a great opportunity to reflect on the progress we've made toward our K-State 2025 goals as well as time for the formation of some more personal goals.
As we continue to grow and change together, it is clear that strong communication, both across campus and beyond its borders, has never been more valuable. One of my personal goals for the upcoming year is to expand my own efforts to engage the K-State community and the public with the work and progress of the university. Through the launch of a new Twitter account and some dynamic updates to the website for the Office of the Provost, I hope to build my own capacity to communicate and better support you, our students, and our university.
Twitter Launch:
With my new account (@KStateProvost), I hope to highlight some of the extraordinary elements of K-State, particularly those related to our academic life, student and faculty achievements, growth of academic programs, and chronicling our journey to becoming a Top 50 public research university. I know that many of our departments and programs, as well as many of my colleagues, have a presence on Twitter and that it has become a key network for reaching out across campus and around the world. It is my goal to support these efforts and join the conversation that has extended our community into the online space. If you're on Twitter, I hope you'll consider following and engaging throughout the new semester and beyond.
Website Updates:
In addition to my social media presence, today also marks the launch of some web updates to help make the Office of the Provost site more dynamic, useful, and user-friendly. On the site, you'll now see: a scrolling banner that will highlight, on a rotating basis, the units and programs that report to my office, a feed of recent news stories that feature the K-State academic community, a listing of my recent communications to campus — including my latest Tweets, and a new section of "Provost Picks" where I will pull together highlights and hot topics based on current initiatives from my office and across campus.
We've also been working to update and reorganize some of the other content on the site. Our goals include currency, consistency, less redundancy across the site, and generally to make it more useful to academic administrators as well as K-State faculty and staff. This process, which is ongoing, began last year with the transition of various services within the Office of the Provost and to Human Capital Services (HCS). The initial set of updates are focused on helping you navigate the changes within the Provost Office so you can find the information you need and the people who can help you.
- In the "About" and "Reporting Units" sections, you will find updated organizational charts for the Office of the Provost detailing which units have responsibility for what functions and services. In addition, the "People and Related Offices" section now includes key areas of responsibility for each individual as well as contact information.
- In the "Resources" and "Policies" sections, you will find new and updated content and links, such as the Department/Unit Head Manual, directories, academic calendars, department head resources, and guest housing.
- The Academic Personnel website also has been updated with new FAQs. While many of the resources once available through Academic Personnel are now incorporated within the Provost or HCS sites, the Academic Personnel site will be maintained through October as part of the transition.
I invite you to explore the revised site and send your feedback to Lynn Carlin (lcarlin@k-state.edu) or Sandra Brase (sbrase@k-state.edu). What additional information do you need? What else would be helpful to you? We have made many changes and we want to be sure these changes work for you.
I also want to thank Janelle Corkill and Ashley Martin (Communications and Marketing) and Theo Stavropoulos, Sandra Brase, Lynn Carlin, Nancy Baker, and Brian Niehoff (Provost Office) for their work this summer helping to advance Provost Office communications. These individuals did the heavy lifting on this new web and Twitter presence!
I'm excited to begin the academic year re-energized and with a renewed focus on both my personal goals and the goals we've built together for the future of K-State.
Thanks for all you do!
April Mason