A message from Dean DeWalt sent to the CBS community on October 18, 2024
Colleagues,
Fall is in full swing here on campus. The last month was a whirlwind of activity (we have pictures to prove it!) with many opportunities for our community to come together. In late September, we gathered for the CBS Faculty and Staff Fall Get-Together. It was wonderful to see familiar faces and welcome new colleagues. In addition, we dedicated the Tester's Hub, a renovated cabin in the heart of Itasca Biological Station named after Dr. John Tester. We also celebrated our wonderful scholarship and fellowship recipients, alumni award winners, and supporters at the annual Recognition & Appreciation Dinner. A few students shared their stories in a video shown during the program. I dare you not to tear up!
Growing our bench
The CSE and CBS LEADS Leadership Development Program kicked off last Friday. The program is designed to support leadership development among faculty in both colleges. The inaugural cohort, which includes 11 CBS and 12 CSE faculty members, will meet periodically over the academic year to build leadership skills and forge strong professional relationships among faculty and senior leadership across our two colleges. We have an incredible pool of future academic leaders, and this program will help prepare them to lead.
A culture of recognition
Fall means it's time to nominate outstanding faculty and staff for University awards. The CBS Awards and Recognition Committee is seeking pre-nominations for the following 2024-25 University awards:
John Tate Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising (award overview / internal nomination form)
Horace T. Morse-University of Minnesota Alumni Undergraduate Education Award (award overview / internal nomination form)
Award for Outstanding Contributions to Graduate and Professional Education (award / overview / internal nomination form)
President’s Community-Engaged Scholar Award (award overview / internal nomination form)
A list of previous CBS award recipients can be found here. Nominations will be accepted through November 1, 2024.
Reasons to be CBS proud
At the start of the semester, I shared my intention to highlight the great work happening around CBS in these messages going forward. Delivering an excellent experience for our undergraduate students is one of the great strengths of this college. Doing that requires a huge investment of time and resources, especially as demand for our programs continues to grow. This fall we welcomed 92 transfer students and 740 first-time undergraduate students, our largest incoming class ever! In all, 2,372 undergraduates are currently enrolled.
Delivering a great student experience involves faculty, staff, postdocs, and graduate students. Our wonderful CBS Student Services team, led by Assistant Dean for International Programs and Student Affairs Nikki Letawsky Shultz, plays an important role. From academic advising to programming to leadership development, our 10 undergraduate academic advisors, three career coaches, and two engagement staff do an incredible job. Last year, they completed 3,757 advising and career student appointments, hosted recruitment events and orientation programs, organized undergraduate commencement, and much more. Already this year, they've hosted a first-day-of-class celebration, BIPOC and LGBTQ+ Community Gatherings, a Life Sciences Graduate School Fair, and a site visit to Bio-Techne.
Thus, the support we give to undergraduate students across our eight CBS majors is a great reason to be CBS Proud. Thank you to Student Services for your dedication to our students.
Best regards,
Saara J. DeWalt
Dean, College of Biological Sciences