Weekly Letter from the Provost—August 7 Edition 

• Campus news and happenings
• Goal 1: Shape enrollment and improve retention and graduation rates for all students
• Goal 2: Improve career outcomes and better prepare our students to succeed and lead in an AI-transformed workforce
• Goal 3: Strengthen academic excellence 

Campus News and Happenings

High-level Timeline for Founding Dean Searches 

In my June 9 message to the community presenting the case for DU’s academic transformation, I announced that we would promptly initiate two internal searches in September 2026 for the founding deans of NSM/Ritchie and MCE/GSSW/GSPP. 

We will run both internal searches concurrently and will utilize the same timeline and process: 

• Finalize and post position description(s): Late August/early September 
• Seat and charge the search committee(s): Mid-September 
• Application deadline: October 15 
• Applicant interviews with search committee(s) and Provost: Late October/early November
• Finalist interviews with campus stakeholders: Early/mid-November 

As a reminder, all members of our community with aligned expertise, a strong track record for leadership, and demonstrated capacity to motivate innovation are encouraged to apply.  

My thanks to Naomi Boyd, dean of the Daniels College of Business, for accepting my request to chair the search for the founding dean of NSM/Ritchie, and to Sahara Byrne, dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS), for agreeing to chair the search for the founding dean of MCE/GSSW/GSPP. The search committees—which will involve faculty and staff of each impacted college or school—will be formed in September. If you are interested in serving on the search committees, please email provost@du.edu.  

Goal 1: Shape Enrollment and Improve Retention and Graduation Rates 

Fall 2026 Enrollment Update

The core new student enrollment assumptions for fall 2026 are 1,050 new first-time first-year (FTFY) undergraduate students and 1,642 new graduate students (on-campus and online). For undergraduate students, we are now tracking FTFY registrations to monitor our progress toward the budgeted goal of 1,050. As of this week, we have 1,107 FTFYs registered for fall classes. At this pace, and assuming a melt rate in line with historic trends, we expect to meet or exceed our enrollment goal of 1,050 new FTFY undergraduates for fall 2026. 

For graduate student recruiting, as of August 5, we have received 1,723 deposits with 300 international students in this group. Current modeling puts us on a path to between 1,600 - 1620 new graduate students for fall 2026, which is slightly under our goal of 1,642. We continue to review DU’s summer 2026 graduate enrollment landscape to determine whether and how enrollment growth this summer might help us achieve our new graduate student enrollment goals for the 2026–27 academic year. 

Teaching to Support Resilience and Well-being Workshop

Led by Kateri McRae, department chair and professor of psychology and senior scholar of resilience for the 4D Resilience Lab, the Resilience and Well-being workshop will focus on actionable teaching practices that are likely to support student learning via student well-being.

The session will include a brief review of the empirical literature on what contributes to student well-being, resilience, and thriving; an introduction to best practices for supporting aspects of student well-being in the classroom; and time to brainstorm and workshop ideas about how to apply this knowledge to an upcoming class. The session will also acknowledge the boundaries of the instructor’s role in supporting student well-being and provide resources for how instructors can support student well-being without sacrificing their own. 

DU community members can register via Crimson Connect.

Goal 2: Improve Career Outcomes and Better Prepare Our Students to Succeed and Lead in an AI-Transformed Workforce

Employer Registration for the Student Employment Job Fair

If you are a DU employer looking to attract strong candidates for your current or upcoming student employment positions, register now for the Student Employment Job Fair. 

Employers from across campus are invited to attend the job fair to give our students a wide variety of professional opportunities. All campus employers are welcome, no matter the number of positions offered. Consider inviting one or more of your current student employees to attend the job fair so that they can provide their uniquely informed and relevant perspective to applicants. 

Please be as specific about your open positions as possible when registering, as this helps us plan for a diverse set of offices and helps students identify relevant opportunities. 

Please note: Registration does not automatically secure your attendance, as space is limited. To ensure a variety of employment opportunities for our students, the Student Employment team will review all registration submission details and be in touch with accepted employers as soon as possible. In the case of over-registration, we will select employers based on diversity of departments, availability of non-work-study-funded positions, and number of positions available. Those employers who register but are unable to join will have preference for future fairs. 

Reminder: Refreshed Career Outcomes Dashboard in Development 

Last fall, the offices of Career and Professional Development and Institutional Research released a public-facing dashboard to display program-specific outcomes data (starting salaries, placements) at the undergraduate, master’s/professional, and doctoral levels by college/school. The dashboard currently includes three years of data (2022, 2023, and 2024).  

This summer, the team has been working to update the dashboard with data on our 2025 graduates as well as to include new features such as internship completion rates. As pressures increase on the value proposition for higher education, applicants and, often, their parents anticipate this level of transparency, and DU has a great story to tell.

The newly refreshed dashboard is scheduled for public release on August 10. I will provide a reminder and link in the next (August 24) newsletter.

Goal 3: Strengthen Academic Excellence

CAHSS Faculty Member Receives National Recognition 

M. Roger Holland, teaching associate professor and director of the Spirituals Project in the Lamont School of Music, has been named Pastoral Musician of the Year (2026) by the National Association of Pastoral Musicians  (NPM). At the 2026 NPM convention, Holland headlined a concert featuring his music, including his newest Mass setting, which features influences from an international array of Black music genres. Holland conducted the mass choir at the performance, which featured musicians and singers from around the country. 

DU Graduate Student and Employee Wins Literary Prize

Congratulations to DU poet, graduate student, and employee Jane Huffman for receiving Vanderbilt University’s 2026 VU Literary Prize . This prize, awarded to the sole author of a poetry collection, “reflects the university’s ongoing commitment to discovering new voices and supporting the arts as transformative and essential to society.” Huffman’s work, Dilemma, will be published next year in print, electronic, and audio formats by Vanderbilt University Press. She will also receive an honorarium, an invitation to read in the Gertrude C. and Harold S. Vanderbilt Reading Series at Vanderbilt University, and a one-week residency on campus to engage students and local writers in the Nashville community. 

I will continue to send these updates biweekly during the summer months and will resume a weekly cadence at the start of the fall quarter. Previous newsletters can be found on the provost’s communication center on the University’s website.

If you have suggestions for what we should include in future communications, please submit your ideas or stories here. Suggestions received before noon on Monday will be reviewed and considered for publication in that week’s newsletter. Others will be held for consideration until the following newsletter.  

Wishing you a productive remainder of your summer and looking forward to a strong start to the fall quarter! 

Sincerely,

Elizabeth G. Loboa  
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor