Weekly Letter from the Provost—June 5 Edition
Dear colleagues,
Since Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, this weekly newsletter has served as a primary tool to keep you informed and engaged as we make progress toward our three goals for Academic Affairs. I am profoundly grateful for your interest, support, and service during my first year as provost. This will be the final newsletter of the academic year, and my plan will be to pivot to a biweekly distribution during the summer months. Previous newsletters can be found on the provost’s communication center on the University’s website.
As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, I wanted to remind you that next week’s message to the campus will be focused exclusively on Academic Transformation. After months of hard work and deliberations, my office will have by that time received approval from the Board of Trustees to proceed with the implementation of the ideas we have worked so hard this year to develop. This work has not come without its challenges, but it has been both rewarding and necessary. I am confident the time we have spent deliberating will position DU for even greater success in the years to come. Rather than sending a Friday newsletter in its standard format—with updates in each of our three goals for Academic Affairs—next week’s message will be about Academic Transformation and will be distributed on Tuesday, June 9.
Thank you for your patience over these past few weeks as the Chancellor and I have carefully reviewed the reports of the three committees I charged to inform our transformation work. I look forward to sharing more of the exciting details next week in what will be only the beginning of many more shared conversations throughout the fall toward refining and implementing DU’s bold academic strategy.
As I shared with board members this week, what first drew me here was DU’s commitment to providing students with access and exposure to DU’s teacher-scholar model. What keeps me motivated every day is seeing how deeply our community is bought into DU’s mission to create an educational experience that is personal, impactful, and relevant. Despite the difficulties we have faced this year that come in times of embracing change, I have seen this commitment lived out, time and again, in faculty, staff, and students across all our schools and colleges. To me, that’s the DU difference. And preserving that distinction while defending our future remains my highest focus.
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 week.
Today’s update falls into four categories:
Since Friday, Sept. 12, 2025, this weekly newsletter has served as a primary tool to keep you informed and engaged as we make progress toward our three goals for Academic Affairs. I am profoundly grateful for your interest, support, and service during my first year as provost. This will be the final newsletter of the academic year, and my plan will be to pivot to a biweekly distribution during the summer months. Previous newsletters can be found on the provost’s communication center on the University’s website.
As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, I wanted to remind you that next week’s message to the campus will be focused exclusively on Academic Transformation. After months of hard work and deliberations, my office will have by that time received approval from the Board of Trustees to proceed with the implementation of the ideas we have worked so hard this year to develop. This work has not come without its challenges, but it has been both rewarding and necessary. I am confident the time we have spent deliberating will position DU for even greater success in the years to come. Rather than sending a Friday newsletter in its standard format—with updates in each of our three goals for Academic Affairs—next week’s message will be about Academic Transformation and will be distributed on Tuesday, June 9.
Thank you for your patience over these past few weeks as the Chancellor and I have carefully reviewed the reports of the three committees I charged to inform our transformation work. I look forward to sharing more of the exciting details next week in what will be only the beginning of many more shared conversations throughout the fall toward refining and implementing DU’s bold academic strategy.
As I shared with board members this week, what first drew me here was DU’s commitment to providing students with access and exposure to DU’s teacher-scholar model. What keeps me motivated every day is seeing how deeply our community is bought into DU’s mission to create an educational experience that is personal, impactful, and relevant. Despite the difficulties we have faced this year that come in times of embracing change, I have seen this commitment lived out, time and again, in faculty, staff, and students across all our schools and colleges. To me, that’s the DU difference. And preserving that distinction while defending our future remains my highest focus.
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 week.
Today’s update falls into four categories:
- 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
Board of Trustees Meeting Recap
I had multiple opportunities to update Board members and committees on academic affairs at DU this week:
Faculty and Educational Affairs Committee (FEAC): The presentation I delivered focused on the Goal 3 Committee’s efforts to strengthen academic excellence. I began by reviewing my three overarching goals for academic affairs and pivoted to an overview of the Goal 3 Committee’s structure and charge. The Goal 3 Committee chairs, Leslie Hasche and Jennifer Karas, provided an overview of their committee’s final report that was submitted on May 1. Deans Bobbie Kite (College of Professional Studies), Fritz Mayer (Korbel), and Sahara Byrne (College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences) spoke to the ways in which their academic units are supporting our Goal 3 efforts.
Executive Session: For this meeting, I began by providing undergraduate and graduate enrollment updates for the fall 2026 incoming class. From there, the majority of my presentation focused on DU’s academic transformation and the recommendations for strategic academic restructuring that we will share with you in greater detail on Tuesday, June 9. The meeting concluded with a brief discussion about how the current, highly competitive enrollment landscape is an ideal time for DU to consider scenarios for a better understanding of the right size of our student population. Over the summer and into the fall, we will engage the community in much deeper conversations on this topic.
Faculty and Educational Affairs Committee (FEAC): The presentation I delivered focused on the Goal 3 Committee’s efforts to strengthen academic excellence. I began by reviewing my three overarching goals for academic affairs and pivoted to an overview of the Goal 3 Committee’s structure and charge. The Goal 3 Committee chairs, Leslie Hasche and Jennifer Karas, provided an overview of their committee’s final report that was submitted on May 1. Deans Bobbie Kite (College of Professional Studies), Fritz Mayer (Korbel), and Sahara Byrne (College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences) spoke to the ways in which their academic units are supporting our Goal 3 efforts.
Executive Session: For this meeting, I began by providing undergraduate and graduate enrollment updates for the fall 2026 incoming class. From there, the majority of my presentation focused on DU’s academic transformation and the recommendations for strategic academic restructuring that we will share with you in greater detail on Tuesday, June 9. The meeting concluded with a brief discussion about how the current, highly competitive enrollment landscape is an ideal time for DU to consider scenarios for a better understanding of the right size of our student population. Over the summer and into the fall, we will engage the community in much deeper conversations on this topic.
Leadership Announcement
I am pleased to announce that Corinne Lengsfeld, senior vice provost for research and graduate studies, has agreed to serve as the Ritchie School acting dean, effective July 1, 2026. She will continue in her role as senior vice provost for research and graduate studies. This comes in response to news shared last month that Dean Michelle Sabick has accepted a leadership role as provost and vice president of academic affairs at Utah Tech.
Corinne is a deeply respected teacher, researcher, administrator, and colleague. She has been a valued part of the DU community, and a member of DU’s engineering faculty, for nearly three decades and has served as interim provost and executive vice chancellor as well as in other leadership roles. I look forward to partnering with her as Ritchie School’s acting dean.
Please join me in thanking Dean Sabick for her leadership and service to the Ritchie School and welcoming Acting Dean Lengsfeld into this position.
Corinne is a deeply respected teacher, researcher, administrator, and colleague. She has been a valued part of the DU community, and a member of DU’s engineering faculty, for nearly three decades and has served as interim provost and executive vice chancellor as well as in other leadership roles. I look forward to partnering with her as Ritchie School’s acting dean.
Please join me in thanking Dean Sabick for her leadership and service to the Ritchie School and welcoming Acting Dean Lengsfeld into this position.
DU Hosts Gubernatorial Primary Debates
This week, the University of Denver hosted primary debates for both the Republican and Democratic races for Colorado governor. In partnership with 9NEWS, The Denver Gazette, and Colorado Politics, we were pleased to bring the leading candidates from both parties to campus to hear about the issues we all face in Colorado.
The Republican Party’s debate took place on Tuesday and the Democratic Party debate occurred on Thursday, both in the DU Welcome Center (former Cable Center). Kyle Clark and Marshall Zelinger from 9NEWS served as moderators.
The Republican Party’s debate took place on Tuesday and the Democratic Party debate occurred on Thursday, both in the DU Welcome Center (former Cable Center). Kyle Clark and Marshall Zelinger from 9NEWS served as moderators.
Goal 1: Shape Enrollment and Improve Retention and Graduation Rates
Cookies and Iced Tea with the Provost
As finals approach, I am inviting all DU students to join me for a brief respite from finals and studying with Cookies and Iced Tea with the Provost on Monday, June 8 from 1 to 3 p.m. in the lobby of the Anderson Academic Commons. This is an opportunity for our students to take a short break and recharge in the final days of the term.
Please share this invitation with students and remind them to pause, rest, and restore during a busy, and often stressful, week.
Please share this invitation with students and remind them to pause, rest, and restore during a busy, and often stressful, week.
Goal 2: Improve Career Outcomes and Better Prepare All Students to Succeed and Lead in an AI-transformed Workforce
DU contingent visits Buckley Space Force Base
Buckley Space Force Base is a US military installation whose primary mission is national cybersecurity defense. They promote this mission by managing global satellite surveillance, worldwide missile warning operations, and defense intelligence. Last month, cross-functional leaders from DU had the opportunity to meet with Buckley leaders to discuss opportunities for future partnerships in areas such as cybersecurity, systems thinking, logistics, and supply chain. Thank you to the DU leaders who organized and participated in this exciting exchange of ideas.
Pictured (left to right): Jeff Banks, Vice Chancellor of Human Resources; Bobbie Kite, Dean of the College of Professional Studies; Susan Teague Rector, Director of Professional Programs at the Ritchie School; Nathan Evans, Teaching Associate Professor, Faculty director for Cybersecurity, Co-chair of the Ritchie School’s Computer Science Department
Career Support and Summer Opportunities
As the end of the academic year approaches, this is a reminder that students can schedule appointments to meet one-on-one with professional career advisors even in the summer months. Students can schedule online or contact the Burwell Center if they need assistance (303.871.2150, career@du.edu).
DU alumni, graduate students, and graduating seniors are also invited to attend the HireColorado: Alumni and Grad Student Career Fair on Wednesday, June 17 at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. More information is available here.
DU alumni, graduate students, and graduating seniors are also invited to attend the HireColorado: Alumni and Grad Student Career Fair on Wednesday, June 17 at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. More information is available here.
Goal 3: Strengthen Academic Excellence
Scrivner Institute Celebration & MPP Capstone Presentations
Last week, the Scrivner Institute and Korbel School celebrated another exciting year of Institute programming. At its annual celebration, the school recognized the hard work of students graduating with their master’s degrees in public policy. Students showcased their capstone project posters, and the wide range of topics highlighted the impact our students and alumni are making across diverse policy areas for the public good.
Two students received the Outstanding Capstone Award for their projects: Emma Guzdek (Advancing Sustainability and Health in U.S. Ice Rinks Through Federal Incentive Programs) and Rowan Hawks (From Pilot to Permanence: Eviction Right to Counsel in Nashville-Davidson County).
Visit the Scrivner Institute's LinkedIn to see the full list of projects presented. Congratulations to these graduating MPP students as they embark on their next chapters!
Sincerely,
Elizabeth G. Loboa
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor
Two students received the Outstanding Capstone Award for their projects: Emma Guzdek (Advancing Sustainability and Health in U.S. Ice Rinks Through Federal Incentive Programs) and Rowan Hawks (From Pilot to Permanence: Eviction Right to Counsel in Nashville-Davidson County).
Visit the Scrivner Institute's LinkedIn to see the full list of projects presented. Congratulations to these graduating MPP students as they embark on their next chapters!
Sincerely,
Elizabeth G. Loboa
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor