July is a time of transitions, as we not only prepare for an incoming class to begin in the fall, but also begin to welcome new faculty and staff colleagues who are joining us in the coming year. As you know from announcements in Carleton Today, we have new colleagues in a number of offices.
As I approach the one-year anniversary of my own arrival at Carleton, I am grateful for the warm welcome that I received, and mindful of the excitement and challenges of entering and adapting to a new home and community.
One of the major attractions of Carleton for many who choose to come here is the strong sense of community. Many prospective students and job candidates say that what sealed the deal for them was the warm and vibrant community they perceived on their campus visits. I was able to experience that myself as a Carleton parent, and it is a large part of what drew me to the opportunity to become Carleton’s president.
At the same time, I know from conversations with students and colleagues that newcomers can also find that the very strength and coherence of the Carleton community makes it difficult to enter. It can feel at times like there is a secret code to be cracked, a new language to be learned, before you feel like a full member.
As a new president, I was of course privileged to have many structures in place to support me in getting oriented. A formal “Transition Team” made up of faculty, staff, students, and alumni was appointed to offer advice on ways to get to know the community, and I found their input enormously helpful in navigating this new environment. As we prepare for the arrival of Michelle Mattson, our new Provost and VP for Academic Affairs, next week, we have invited a group of faculty, staff, and students to form a Transition Team for Michelle, to help her learn Carleton processes, connect with different groups and offices on campus, and get up to speed on current campus conversations and initiatives. While she will be meeting with many other individuals and groups as well, I know from my experience that having a source of broad community input and feedback early on will be helpful.
We do have formal programs to welcome new community members, including New Student Week for first-years and the New Faculty Orientation organized by the Perlman Learning and Teaching Center. In addition, Human Resources is rolling out a new employee orientation program, which will begin in August. This week, I recorded a video welcome for new employees in which I try to articulate some of the things that I believe make Carleton special and a wonderful place to work. But the most important welcome for any newcomer is personal outreach from their peers.
We know from the discussions that took place during the development of the IDE Plan that community members who come from groups that are currently underrepresented on our campus sometimes have to work harder to feel the sense of belonging we all value. An important dimension of our equity and inclusion work will be finding ways to extend the reach of our community to make their journey a shorter one.
I hope that, as new colleagues appear on campus now and in the future, we can all consider ourselves their “transition team,” and think about ways to help them feel at home here. I appreciate your help in building and sustaining a strong Carleton community.
–Alison Byerly, President