It is my pleasure to introduce the annual report of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences 2021-2022.

As the college emerged from the relative isolation of the first year of the pandemic, we embarked on a year of deep conversations about our future.  Hundreds of faculty, staff, and students participated in iterative strategic visioning work, much of it via Zoom, to arrive at a plan that describes our aspirations as a college and aligns them with the university’s Reach Higher 2025 goals and commitments.  We also built the structures to begin working toward these new goals.

Some of our first steps were very clear.  For instance, to provide the proactive advising for every student that we know leads to student success, we hired six advisors in the CLAS Academic Advising Center.  We also recruited our first Director of CLAS Tutoring who is partnering with departments to provide additional academic support to our students, including expanding supplemental instruction opportunities and embedding a Reading Center, spearheaded by Professor Amy Masko, in the Tutoring Center.

This year we launched several new academic programs, including a B.S. in Fisheries and Aquatic Science, a B.S. in Wildlife Biology, an M.S. in Water Resources Policy, and a redesigned elementary education program that aligns with new guidance from the state of Michigan.  Meanwhile, faculty continued to hone their pedagogical skills, fine-tuning their approaches to online, hybrid, and inclusive teaching. Though many sabbatical plans and research logistics were hampered by the pandemic, our faculty also continued to pursue their creative and scholarly activities. For FY2022, the college has been awarded $8,020,973 in external grants, with an additional $2,379,094 pending.  Projects cover a very wide range from Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands Management by the Annis Water Resources Institute to support for the Autism Education Center to increasing computer literacy by the Regional Math and Science Center to taking our New Music Ensemble on tour.

In an expansion of our commitment to authentic community engagement, we partnered with Grand Rapids Community College to develop an articulation agreement for students interested in transferring to Grand Valley to complete their journey towards becoming elementary school teachers.  We also won a bid to partner with Battle Creek Public Schools to start a K-8 integrated arts academy at Northwestern Middle School, and we are laying groundwork for a robust student and faculty research collaboration with the John Ball Zoo.

This year the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences took on the production of the university’s Fall Arts Celebration.  Now renamed and spanning the academic year, the GVSU Arts Celebration provides us with the opportunity to bring a broadened and inclusive experience of the arts to our students, the campus community, and the West Michigan region. Two online events this spring featured locally and nationally acclaimed writers, including MacArthur Fellow Hanif Abdurriqib, and allowed us the rare opportunity to have alumni and communities far outside Michigan share in the celebration.

When professional support staff ranks shrank in the last year through the university’s voluntary retirement incentive program, we responded with a bold college-wide initiative to rethink the flow of work and engage in new ways of collaborating across units. Staff were simultaneously learning new technologies and systems, and are to be commended for demonstrating considerable adaptability and resilience.

Even in this successful but challenging year, students have been reporting to us that their professors and college staff provided the care and support that has long been the hallmark of a Grand Valley education.  From the peer mentoring program developed by the Psychology Department to an art workshop for employees led by a faculty member from the Visual and Media Arts Department, all around the college there has been a desire to come together again that has created hope and energy despite the lingering pandemic, news of war abroad, and injustice closer to home.

Sometimes athletes talk of leaving everything on the field.  The faculty and staff of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences had an extraordinary year. The grit, skill, and devotion they demonstrate makes me proud to be their dean.