I hope many of you are out there enjoying summer fun, or finding time to go after that proposal you’ve been hoping to write. This summer, I have a trip planned with my son to visit a family friend in California, where we’ll get in a little scuba diving in a kelp forest — the kind of memory that lasts a lifetime for me. I just returned from Akron for Wheat Field Days and the FFA State Convention in Pueblo, and look forward to my first Farm Foundation meeting.
For me, travel makes me slow down and think while I drive, fly, or just sit and ponder in the between times. When I’m lucky, a zing of insight happens in those moments. Yesterday, on the drive back from the Colorado Livestock Association’s annual conference in Black Hawk, I was thinking on trust, and how trust develops over time.
When I arrived at CSU, I was immediately entrusted with significant responsibilities in the role of Dean. I had to make decisions, set direction, and lead the college at a time when we (and folks all over our nation) are going through a period of considerable change — both because universities evolve, and because right now we’re in the midst of some pretty hefty change at a national level.
Upon my arrival, what I was not immediately given — and could not reasonably expect to be given — was trust. Trust develops through relationships, experiences, consistency, and time.
Many of the challenges and opportunities before us as a college require trust. Strategic planning, organizational change, budget decisions, and shared governance all work best when people have confidence not only in the outcomes, but also in the processes used to reach them.
That confidence is built through communication, engagement, and governance structures that allow expertise to inform decisions and provide meaningful opportunities for participation in our shared work. Those activities create the institutional framework that supports the work we all want to focus on: our mission. How we prepare students for meaningful lives through their contributions to society and the advancement of knowledge. How we support the people of Colorado, the nation, and the world through research, discovery, and the application of knowledge to create opportunity and improve lives.
I owe a big ‘thank you’ to all of you who have worked with me to strengthen those foundations. Together we’ve expanded opportunities for dialogue through —
- department visits (thanks to the department heads for inviting me);
- our Food for Thought newsletter (thanks to Anna Gerber for her work to solve a deeply felt need to communicate broadly);
- listening sessions (thanks to all of you for showing up when I’ve called meetings to learn from you on a variety of topics);
- a new program of Town Halls, held three to four times per year with the first one happening back in January of this year;
- and now office hours (see below for more info).
Together, we’ve clarified roles and responsibilities across the college and begun important work to modernize our College Code and governance structures together. Strong governance creates clarity around decision-making, consultation, accountability, and participation. It helps ensure that shared governance is not merely an aspiration, but a lived reality.
Healthy governance can’t depend on any one leader. I appreciate how Dr. Hayley Chouinard talks about creating frameworks and norms that make an organization “leader-proof.” When the system works well, leaders can focus on the mission while the organization provides the structure and support needed to advance it. That allows strong leaders to accomplish more, and in situations where leadership falls short, it reduces the likelihood of lasting damage.
In a complex organization, some information will always be evolving, incomplete, or confidential. Trust is built when people believe decisions are being approached thoughtfully, expertise is respected, questions are welcomed, and leaders communicate openly whenever we can.
A big focus of mine is creating frameworks that enable us to trust as a foundation to advancing in our education, research, and extension and outreach mission. I hope that together we can develop systems, structures, and culture that builds on already strong foundations so that we become an even higher-functioning team in the College of Agricultural Sciences.
I hope some of these frameworks help us to grow our level of trust.
Thank you for the work you do every day on behalf of our students, stakeholders, and the future of agriculture.
Carolyn
Dean’s Leadership Fellow Spotlight
This month, I am pleased to highlight the work of Mark Uchanski through the Dean’s Leadership Fellows program.
Mark decided during his time at Lincoln University in New Zealand that our 25-year partnership for education could be expanded with a bit of effort to include shared research. He’s now nearing the finish line on an international Memorandum of Understanding for our two institutions to enable the foundations of research collaboration to be solidified. Thanks for leading in this space so that our connections can naturally involve research, Mark!
The Leadership Fellows program creates opportunities for faculty leaders to explore ideas, tackle challenges, and develop initiatives that strengthen the College of Agricultural Sciences. I am grateful for Mark’s contributions and for the leadership of all our Fellows. Want to take on a role to advance a project? Here’s the application form.
You Said, We Did
One theme I have heard consistently is the importance of creating structures that support communication, engagement, and shared governance.
You said: Our governance structures could benefit from review and modernization.
We did: Working together, Drs. Amy Charkowski, Kellie Enns, and Quatez Scott resurrected the college’s Coordinating Committee (previously called the Code Committee). Together, we charged that committee with reviewing and updating the College Code to clarify processes, responsibilities, and pathways for participation.
Who’s on that committee? Your elected Faculty Council members —
- Agricultural Biology – Dr. Lisa Blecker
- Agricultural Resource Economics – Dr. Stephan Kroll
- Animal Sciences – Dr. Catie Cramer
- Horticulture and Landscape Architecture – Dr. Kelly Curl
- Soil and Crop Sciences – Dr. Esten Mason
- CAS-at-Large – Dr. Marco Costanigro
- CAS-at-Large – Dr. Stephen Coleman (CAS Coordinating Committee Chair)
This work is ongoing, but it reflects a broader commitment to ensuring that our governance systems remain effective, transparent, and responsive to the needs of our college community. Beyond just this committee, we have others that are also seeing a bit of a revival.
Food for Thought brings together the stories that shape the College of Agricultural Sciences. From science and technology to education and culture, our faculty, students, and staff are making a difference everywhere you look.
Join me this summer and fall to ask questions, share ideas, or simply connect. These are come-and-go office hours — stop by the Nutrien building anytime during the session. For one-on-one conversations, contact Shannon Wagner to schedule. The next Dean’s Office Hours are Thursday, July 2, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.