Letter to the LMU Community: Happy New Academic Year!

Message from the Executive President and Vice Provost: Happy New Academic Year!
August 28, 2017

Dear Members of the LMU Community:

Welcome to the 2017-2018 academic year! During the three months since my arrival at LMU, I have had the great pleasure of meeting many LMU faculty, students, staff, parents, and friends, and I have been inspired by your dedication to this great University. I want to take this opportunity to thank you for all that you do for LMU, and to express my eagerness to partner with you as we seek to fulfill LMU’s Mission to foster the encouragement of learning, the education of the whole person, and the service of faith and the promotion of justice.

I am excited by the opportunities before us during this new academic year. In short order, we will be hosting an internationalization summit, undergoing a refresh of our Strategic Plan, preparing for the opening of our Playa Vista campus, and much, much more. I look forward to all the great work we will do together to advance our priorities and goals.

Please know that my Office and dedicated staff are ready to assist and facilitate your academic endeavors. In order to better understand your needs and to learn how we can best serve you, I have created a short survey with a few numerically based questions, as well as opportunities for you to provide open-ended feedback. The survey can be completed by clicking here, and I thank you in advance for your assistance.

It is traditional for the Provost to acknowledge our faculty colleagues who, during the last year, were either advanced to tenure, promoted in rank, or both. I do so here with great enthusiasm. Their work and creativity are truly inspirational. Along with joining me in congratulating them, I encourage you to visit their LMU websites via the provided links to learn more. Najwa al-Qattan (History); José Ignacio Badenes, S.J. (Modern Languages and Literatures-Spanish); Marne L. Campbell (African American Studies); David Y. Choi (Entrepreneurship); Gary Craig (Law); Deepa Dabir (Biology); Kam Dahlquist (Biology); Han Dai-Yu (Studio Arts); Kurt Daugherty (Recording Arts); Andrew Dilts (Political Science); Aimee Dudovitz (Law); Christina Eubanks-Turner (Mathematics); Nadia Y. Kim (Sociology); Garland Kirkpatrick (Studio Arts); Thomas Klein (Animation); Thomas Laurent (Mathematics); Jessica Levinson (Law); Rosalynde Loo (Theatre Arts and Dance); Yanping Ma (Mathematics); Carla Marcantonio (Film and Television Studies); Einat Metzl (Marital and Family Therapy); Adilifu Nama (African American Studies); Priscilla Ocen (Law); Margarita R. Ochoa (History); Stella Oh (Women's and Gender Studies); Jeffrey Phillips (Physics); Todd Shoepe (Health and Human Sciences); Joshua Spizman (Finance); Charles Swanson (Production); Heather Tarleton (Health and Human Sciences); Gustavo Vejarano (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science); Traci Brynne Voyles (Women's and Gender Studies); Yanjie Wang (Asian and Asian American Studies); Adam Zimmerman (Law).

In closing, I draw your attention to two important fall semester events. The first event is the Mass of the Holy Spirit at noon on Thursday, September 14th, in Sacred Heart Chapel. This inspiring liturgy is one of our most important fall semester events. The second event is President Snyder’s convocation to the LMU community, which will take place on Tuesday, October 17th at 11:30 am in Sacred Heart Chapel. Please look for further announcements regarding these events as their time draws near and please accept my best wishes for a fulfilling and productive year.

Sincerely,

Thomas Poon, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President and Provost