University of Missouri
Provost Blog

Feb. 17, 2021

Looking Ahead for Higher Education

Planning for 2022 - and beyond Given all the uncertainties of a post-pandemic reality, and knowing that higher education had challenges even prior to the pandemic, what does 2022 and beyond look like? More importantly, what can we do today to plan for this future? To begin with, the data. Economy - At a macro…

Dec. 20, 2020

Action Items on Inclusivity

In June, I sent an email with a request for a “Call to Action” to Deans and Chairs. I asked them to look at their schools and departments, and to communicate to my office action items that they are currently taking or plan to take that will intentionally create a culture of inclusivity. I asked that…

May 13, 2020

Should We Continue to Plan for a Budget Cut?

We plan based on current information and current expectations of what the fall and the coming fiscal year will look like. This underpins our planned reduction in expenses for FY21 by 12.5% while also maintaining the flexibility to review every quarter as new information becomes available. Last week and over the weekend, we read about…

Jan. 29, 2020

N of 1

N of 1 – that seems to be where medicine is moving towards. Advances in medicine point in the direction of an N of 1 strategy where studies use a sample size of one. This sample, while not statistically significant, could lead to cures for rare illnesses, which affect a very small number of individuals…

Jan. 14, 2020

Our New Resource Allocation Model – Incentivizing Collaboration Part II

Continuing on the theme of collaboration – how do we incentivize collaboration under our new Resource Allocation Model (RAM)? One approach used in the past, and perhaps more successfully than others, is via joint faculty appointments. Faculty appointments that are spread across different departments and colleges offer a starting point for collaboration. Centers of excellence…

Jan. 6, 2020

Our New Resource Allocation Model – Incentivizing Collaboration Part I

Eighteen months – the length of time between convening the committee and the final presentation of the new Resource Allocation Model (RAM). Despite the length of time involved, and as we noted at our town hall presentation in May 2018, the model is not perfect, and is a work in process. Today, about seven months…

Oct. 17, 2019

Celebrating Graduate Education

The United States emerged the world leader in innovation in the post-World War II era. One of the contributing factors was the GI Bill and the access to education that it enabled. Too, the Cold War drove a sense of urgency into the equation for innovation. Today, with the end of the Cold War, and…

Oct. 2, 2019

What is Our Secret Sauce?

Every university I have been at aspires to be the world’s best. Every university wants to be ranked in the top 5. Every university wants to be in a never-ending stream of billion-dollar fund raising campaigns. It is not so much what we want to do or be, it is how we get there. What…

Sept. 24, 2019

When Undergraduate Research is More Than an Assignment

A couple of weeks ago Chancellor Cartwright and I shared a meal with faculty who are productive researchers and effective mentors. This group spoke to us about their commitment to mentoring undergraduate students on research skills. To say that the faculty at the table were passionate about undergraduate research is an understatement. What did I…

Sept. 18, 2019

Museums of Mizzou

At a recent meeting with colleagues it dawned on me that mid-western humility is a real thing. At a time when national museums like the Newseum in Washington D.C. are shutting down, and despite a string of budget cuts, our university has maintained and grown Mizzou’s ‘museum’ assets. Maybe you do, but perhaps you do…