Day One: Provost’s Message

July 17, 2013

Dear Colleagues,

I would like to take this opportunity to tell you how honored I am to be a member of the Baruch College community and to be part of one of the country’s premier urban public colleges. Your history of devotion to academic excellence and a stellar student experience—all while maintaining accessibility—is a higher education success story.

Thank you for the kind words of welcome since officially starting on Monday. We have a lot of work ahead of us and I’m excited to partner with each of you to achieve our goals. Of course, I look forward to helping implement the ambitious Strategic Plan 2013-2018 by reinforcing and supporting the shared Baruch vision for a productive, creative and effective learning environment. I plan to invite faculty and students to make substantial contributions to the achievement of this vision, and to build an organization that encourages respect and openness while we tackle difficult problems and take advantage of opportunities. Strategic planning, assurance of student learning, and investing in faculty development are each essential components to enhancing what is already great about Baruch.

With Professor John Brenkman’s successful stewardship of the provost’s office—for which I am extremely grateful—since February ’12, I am well positioned to move quickly on many fronts. I look forward to continuing the strong work already underway with the dedicated team led by Associate Provosts Dennis Slavin and Barbara Lawrence.

I am eager to meet the faculty, students, staff, alumni and many friends of Baruch College. Working with Deans David Birdsell, Myung-Soo Lee and Jeff Peck as well as CIO and Chief Librarian Arthur Downing and CAPS Associate Dean Ann Clarkson, I look forward to attending faculty and department meetings throughout the semester. It’s an exciting time to join Baruch as we welcome more than 60 new faculty members to our ranks; we start the search for the new dean of the Zicklin School of Business; and we’re expanding our efforts to include more international students and education partners. Of course, I’m not naïve to the challenges we face and look forward to partnering with you for creative solutions, a hallmark of Baruch’s reputation.

Best regards,

David P. Christy
Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs