The Colorado State University System Board of Governors has voted to separate the position of CSU System chancellor from the president of the Fort Collins campus, and to move forward immediately with a national search for the chancellor position.
Historically, the position of chancellor and president were conjoined, formerly held by Larry Penley, who resigned in November 2008. The Board appointed Tony Frank to serve as Interim President of the CSU Fort Collins campus. The chancellor role was left vacant. In December, the board came to a consensus that it was in the best interest of the University to separate the two posts.
The Board accepted the report of stakeholder input (to view report, go to www.csusystem.edu/chancellorsearch) about desired attributes of a new chancellor submitted by the co-chairs of the stakeholder forums.
"The Board of Governors appreciates everyone's input and has taken the comments into consideration in developing the chancellor position description," said Board Chair Douglas L. Jones. The Board also has reviewed and discussed a position description for the chancellor, and voted to accept the description as part of the search process. Jones appointed a search committee and three committee chairs to conduct a national search and recommend finalists to the board for the next chancellor of the Colorado State University System.
The lack of highly qualified science and mathematics teachers in middle and high school classrooms across America is a crisis that is well established. If the United States is to remain a leader in engineering, technology and innovation in the global market place, the state of science and mathematics education must be reversed, according to the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges.
The presidents of 74 public universities and 11 university systems, including Colorado State University, representing an additional 33 campuses, have taken a bold step toward reversing the crisis by formally committing to the Science and Mathematics Teacher Imperative, called SMTI, developed by the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC). SMTI calls for members’ institutions to work with state educational organizations to develop teaching programs and recruit students in areas where math and science are challenged, and to work cooperatively to begin to reverse the decline in the study of mathematics and science by high school and junior high students.
The teacher imperative has been supported by grants from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the National Science Foundation, NASULGC, and in-kind contributions of faculty from several universities.
The Corporation for National and Community Service last month honored Colorado State University by naming the institution to the 2008 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll "with distinction."
The federal award recognizes Colorado State's efforts to promote and engage students in community service and service-learning opportunities, particularly through the Student Leadership, Involvement, and Community Engagement (SLiCE) office and the Office of Service-Learning in The Institute for Learning and Teaching (TILT).
"This, along with the University's selection as a 2008 Carnegie Community Engagement University, is a tribute to the great work Colorado State is doing to serve and improve the welfare of the larger community and to provide students with experiential, community engagement opportunities that deepen their civic skills and commitments and extend their professional experience and preparation," says Mike Palmquist, Associate Vice Provost and Director of TILT.
For more information about these programs, visit http://www.slce.colostate.edu or http://tilt.colostate.edu.
A study by Colorado State University researchers on the future of agriculture in the state is seeking input on variables such as economic conditions, commodity prices, water, environmental factors and land use. Details of a study that involves computer modeling were unveiled last month at the annual Governor's Forum on Colorado Agriculture in Denver.
The forum, "Learning from our Past, Cultivating our Future," brought together leaders from around the state to discuss the state of agriculture, including U.S. Sen. Michael Bennett, Colorado State University Interim President Anthony A. Frank and Gov. Bill Ritter.
Gov. Ritter said agriculture is the third largest industry in the state and is expanding in new and innovative ways. "Agriculture is helping to grow our new energy economy," Gov. Ritter said. The governor pointed to wind energy development in Colorado that was second only to Texas in terms of putting wind generated energy on electrical grids in 2007. Ritter also praised Colorado State University for its alternative fuels research.
