Faculty Affairs
Bill Henry, Ph.D., announced this semester he would step down from his administrative position as vice provost for Faculty Affairs at Metropolitan State University of Denver to return full-time to his faculty position in the Department of Psychological Sciences in the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, effective Jan. 1.
Henry’s achievements as vice provost include overseeing the reorganization of the Faculty Employment Handbook and establishing strong working relationships with the Faculty Senate, Council of Chairs and Directors, Deans Council, Human Resources and other stakeholder groups. He also created strong and well-documented procedures to support critical faculty-related review processes, such as emeritus nominations and department evaluation-guideline revisions. Additionally, he co-chaired the task force that generated the recent faculty-workload proposal. It’s important to note that he also served as interim provost between June 2020 and March 2021, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The national search for Henry’s replacement (retitled as associate vice president for Faculty Affairs) launched this semester and is nearing its conclusion. A new AVP for Faculty Affairs should be announced in early January.
I want to emphasize that Dr. Henry’s leadership and commitment were invaluable as I transitioned to MSU Denver. His knowledge, leadership and advocacy for faculty were noteworthy and quite extraordinary. He will be sorely missed in the Provost’s Office, but I am supremely pleased that he will continue his scholarship and leadership in CLAS.
Online Learning
Also, Matt Griswold, Ed.D., will leave his position as associate vice president for Online Learning on Dec. 31 to become the vice president for Online and Continuing Education at the University of Wyoming.
Griswold had numerous accomplishments over the past five years at MSU Denver, which include overseeing an eightfold increase in online and hybrid programs and ushering in Canvas as the new learning-management system. He also fortified the Office of Online Learning and collaborated with departments as they adapted to the needs of online and in-person learners alike.
His tenure also overlapped with the Covid-19 pandemic, during which he assisted in the immediate shift to remote instruction and its varied ramifications on faculty training, student skill development, available technology and software, funding needs and accelerated timelines.
Griswold is a true thought leader, and he could be counted on to take the initiative to serve his team, other units and the University with keen insights and integrity. He laid the foundation for a bold future at MSU Denver. He will be a gift to the University of Wyoming in similar ways that he was a gift to our University.
Interim Online Learning leadership
MSU Denver will launch a national search for a new AVP of Online Learning in early 2023. In the meantime, I am pleased that Jeff Loats, Ph.D., director of the Center for Teaching, Learning and Design, has agreed to serve as interim AVP in addition to his duties with the CTLD.
Loats has been a Physics professor for nearly 20 years and joined MSU Denver in 2008. Since 2018, he has served as the CTLD director. Under his leadership, the CTLD was instrumental in helping the University pivot to fully remote learning during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the center’s continued support and innovation have helped MSU Denver stay focused on excellence in education.
Please stay tuned to the Early Bird for more updates and attend Tuesday Talks With Tatum beginning again Jan. 24.