Greetings!<\/span><\/p>\n Thank you to all of you who tuned in for our virtual kickoff meeting. In case you missed it, a link to the recording can be found <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n As we are gearing up for next week and the start of classes, I want to thank you again for your dedication to our students and Missouri Western. We have faced challenges none of us expected in the past year. Looking ahead, we still face challenges, and we can only overcome them if we work together and focus our energy on enrollment, retention and student success.<\/span><\/p>\n In order to achieve that goal, I believe it\u2019s important to create opportunities for listening and learning. I want to identify problems and collaborate to find creative solutions. I will continue to meet with faculty and staff leadership and other members of the campus community. I will also commit to sharing updates with the campus community so we are all apprised of important factors that affect our University.<\/span><\/p>\n I also want to charge each of you with creating an environment within your various areas that fosters communication, teamwork and creative problem solving. We need to build trust and a collaborative spirit within our teams in order to tackle the challenges ahead. We can do this, but only if we work together.<\/span><\/p>\n I shared a video at yesterday\u2019s kickoff that featured our students telling us what Missouri Western means to them. If you missed it, you can view it <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>. It\u2019s a good reminder of why we are here and what we can accomplish if we work together toward common goals.<\/span><\/p>\n