Aug. 3, 2010
(Note: Cal Poly Interim President Robert Glidden sent the following e-mail to Cal Poly faculty and staff upon taking office at the university.)
Dear Cal Poly Faculty and Staff:
This is my first day on campus as your interim president, and I want you to know that I am honored to have this opportunity.
I had the pleasure of meeting some of you while I was on campus for a few days of briefings in mid-July, and I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible over the weeks to come. About those briefings, the most striking feature was everyone’s intense focus on serving the people who matter most – our students. Truly, to a person, everyone I met understood that the most important person on campus is the student.
In the last few weeks I have also been studying some of Cal Poly’s key metrics (e.g., graduation rates, retention rates, alumni earning power, cost of graduating a student, etc.), and I’ve arrived at one inescapable conclusion: Cal Poly’s excellent reputation is well deserved.
I suspect the main question most of you have is what value an interim president can bring. An interim appointment has some built-in limitations, to be sure. Nonetheless, I’m confident that together we will make progress on issues that are important to the University as a whole. My job, as I see it, will be to analyze, to foster cooperation and collaboration, and to help us all prepare for a new permanent president.
Several areas will be of particular focus for me:
Learn by doing. While I had heard much about Cal Poly’s hallmark approach before ever setting foot on campus, it’s already abundantly clear to me how well you execute it. And it’s also clear in talking with some alumni how transformative their learn-by-doing experiences were. Learn by doing is a true differentiator for Cal Poly – a rich tradition for good reason – and I will do what I can to assure that we are
applying it in every way possible.
Collaboration. The capacity for constructive, productive, and collegial collaboration is one of the hallmarks of great academic communities. My early observation is that this is already a part of the Cal Poly culture, and I’d like to help it continue and grow.
Fundraising. In this era of declining investment by the State of California, it’s vital that Cal Poly improve its fundraising capacity. I will do what I can to help the Advancement team and the Deans continue to move forward with expanded fundraising efforts.
Of course, other issues will demand our attention also, not least of which will be the budget once the Legislature acts, presumably in September.
I know that the State’s financial situation causes considerable uncertainty for each of you, but I also know you have proven that you’re very capable of staying focused on serving students even amidst all of the recent budget distractions. Thank you for that dedication to the University and its mission.
I’m eagerly anticipating the academic year and my opportunity to be of service to an outstanding university, and I ask that you join me in doing all we can to make this a productive year for Cal Poly and its students.
Sincerely,
Robert Glidden
Interim President