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Provost Updates | September 2026

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

Now that the fall semester is fully underway, I am focused on several priorities that are guiding the Provost’s Office this year: strengthening student retention and success; fostering faculty thriving; and thoughtfully navigating the opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence, among others. The Provost’s Office is advancing initiatives and programs that align with three central commitments: Mission in Action (how we show up in the world), Students First (how we show up for students), and Academic Innovation (how we show up for the future). Below are updates and opportunities from Academic Affairs, including work happening in schools and colleges, that seek to further these commitments.

Intellectual Character Initiative

Around campus, you will see first-year and transfer students sporting T-shirts listing the Virtues of the Lion Mind. The Virtues of the Lion Mind are part of the Intellectual Character Initiative, a three-year project, co-directed by Professor Jason Baehr (PHIL) and Professor Dan Speak (PHIL), aimed at embedding a deeper focus on intellectual character formation across LMU. The project includes many opportunities for faculty development. I encourage you to get involved.

Global Conversations 

LMU’s Global Conversations returns for 2026-27. Presented by the Provost’s Office, the Marymount Institute, and the Division of Student Affairs, the series brings distinguished scholars, artists, activists, writers, entrepreneurs, and creative leaders to LMU to engage, challenge, and inspire our community.

Guests for the upcoming Global Conversation events include:

  • Oct. 22, 2026 | Hilton 100 | 4-5:30 p.m.| Henry Louis Gates Jr., professor and filmmaker, returns to campus for a final visit, alongside special guest Laurence Fishburne, actor, producer, and director
  • Nov. 16, 2026 | Ahmanson Auditorium | 4-5:30 p.m. | Jori Lewis, award-winning author of “A Natural History of the Spirits” and “Slaves for Peanuts”
  • Feb. 22, 2027 | Life Sciences Building and Hilton 100 | 4:00-5:30 pm | Robin Wall Kimmerer, plant ecologist and author of “Braiding Sweetgrass” and “The Serviceberry.”

I encourage you to RSVP here for our first Global Conversations event during Family Weekend featuring Laurence Fishburne and Henry Louis Gates Jr. Together, they will screen Laurence Fishburne's episode of the acclaimed PBS series “Finding Your Roots” and lead a thought-provoking discussion on identity, family, and the challenges facing our country today.

2026-27 Campus Read

A similar opportunity for community and connection is offered by LMU’s Campus Read program, which invites members of the LMU community to read together and to participate in vibrant dialogues about the chosen book in classes, roundtables, and panels. Our  2026-27 Campus Read is “The Serviceberry,” by Robin Wall Kimmerer. I am delighted that Dr. Kimmerer will be joining our LMU community in February as part of the Global Conversations series (February 22, 2027). I encourage you to read “The Serviceberry” and be part of our collective conversation and reflection.

Community Conversation - Oct. 13, 2026

Again this year, I will be hosting Community Conversations, a series of conversations intended to foster connection and promote shared understanding across the university. Please join me for our first Community Conversation — focused on artificial intelligence — on Oct. 13 from noon-1:30 p.m. in Ahmanson. Associate Provost Mairead Sullivan will share an update on the implementation of the recommendations from the Task Force on Scholarly and Academic Uses of generative AI. We will also make time for wider discussions on the ongoing and rapidly changing landscape of AI and higher education. I invite you to provide questions ahead of time.

Following the event, there will be light refreshments for continued conversation and community. Please RSVP here. I look forward to gathering together on Oct. 13 for this important discussion.

Advancing Belonging, Equity, and Inclusion through Mission Integration

Our commitment to belonging, equity, inclusion, and justice is an expression of our Catholic, Jesuit, and Marymount identity and our enduring commitment to the dignity of every person. Across Academic Affairs, we are advancing this work through faculty formation, mission-centered hiring, and initiatives that support faculty thriving.

  • In partnership with Mission Engagement, we have launched the Pedagogical Formation Institute (PFI), a yearlong experience for all first-year, full-time faculty beginning this fall. Integrating Ignatian pedagogy, inclusive teaching, and access pedagogy, the institute will help faculty foster belonging, engagement, and student success while building community and supporting professional growth.
  • We have strengthened our approach to mission-centered faculty recruitment and hiring. By more intentionally communicating our Catholic, Jesuit, and Marymount traditions, we seek to attract educators and scholars inspired by our mission who will contribute their diverse identities, experiences, and scholarly commitments to our community.
  • Through the collaborative efforts of the Center for Faculty Development (CFD), Faculty Engagement (OFE), and Mission Engagement, we are also deepening our understanding of faculty thriving. The Faculty Thriving Quotient framework, faculty experience assessments, leadership needs assessments, and new exit interviews are helping us identify the ways in which faculty are flourishing and where additional support is needed. These insights have already shaped the newest iteration of the annual Manresa Faculty Formation and Writing Retreat and will continue to inform faculty development, engagement, and institutional decision-making.

I invite you to join Associate Provost Heather Tarleton to learn more about “Academic Affairs x Mission Integration” and hear insights from the assessments you have participated in over the past two years. Those opportunities will be announced in the biweekly CFD newsletter beginning in October.

Let me also pause here to say: THANK YOU! The work that we do is not possible without your participation and your voice, and we are truly grateful for the trust you have placed in us to care for that voice.

New Special Advisor: Academic and Operational Initiatives 

I’m excited to share that Marne Campbell, Ph.D., will serve as special advisor for Academic and Operational Initiatives. In this role, she will provide support to Academic Affairs and Operations, working closely with Vice Provost Maureen Weatherall and Executive Vice President and COO John Kiralla. In collaboration with Enrollment Management and Academic Affairs, Professor Campbell will help strengthen student success by partnering with faculty leadership and academic units to better integrate academic advising, first-year academic transitions, and structured academic pathways that support student progress from entry through graduation. Professor Campbell will work with the executive vice president and COO on special initiatives that advance holistic student experience and mission integration across operational units.

Professor Campbell is a professor of African American Studies and a distinguished scholar, educator, and academic leader with more than 15 years of service at LMU. She has previously served as president of the Faculty Senate, vice president of the Faculty Senate, chair of African American Studies, chair of the Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts College Council, and a member of the University Strategic Planning Steering Committee. During her tenure, Professor Campbell has demonstrated an exceptional commitment to student success, faculty development, academic innovation, and institutional leadership. Her work has supported undergraduate and graduate student achievement through advising, mentoring, teaching, and program development. She has also been engaged nationally in WSCUC and program review across higher education.

New Director: The Coelho Center

I am pleased to announce that Amanda Christy, Ph.D., will be the new director of The Coelho Center for Disability Law, Policy, and Innovation. An associate professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at LMU, Professor Christy earned her Ph.D. in gender studies from UCLA. Her scholarship and teaching span disability studies, gender and sexuality, body theory, memoir, and autism. Her book “The Disabled Child” (University of Michigan Press) examines memoirs about raising children with disabilities and explores how gender, class, and race shape experiences and representations of disability.

Professor Christy brings to this role an established record of leadership with The Coelho Center. As the Center for Faculty Development Faculty Fellow with The Coelho Center in 2024 and 2025, she led workshops and discussions on access pedagogy, universal design, and trauma-informed pedagogy, strengthening access literacy and disability visibility across LMU. She also helped launch LMU’s annual Disability Studies Conference, which brought together 250 participants in its inaugural year and, in 2026, became an entirely student-run conference, in partnership with the Habitable Worlds project and Professor Mairead Sullivan. Her work with the center has also included developing curriculum for LMU Extension’s Department of Rehabilitation Workforce Development certificate program and supporting the center’s research, advocacy, and day-to-day operations.

As director, Professor Christy will lead The Coelho Center into an ambitious next chapter, building on its strong foundation in disability law, policy, advocacy, and student leadership while expanding its focus on disability, care, and dignity. Her vision is for the center to become a national hub for research, policy, student leadership, and public scholarship addressing some of the most consequential issues facing disabled people and their families — from caregiving, housing, employment, and healthcare to resources for people with complex and high-support needs. With Los Angeles and California serving as communities of responsibility and laboratories for learning, the center will bring together researchers, policymakers, disabled people, families, care workers, service providers, students, and community organizations to develop knowledge and solutions with national relevance. I am delighted to welcome Professor Christy to this role and look forward to the leadership she will bring to The Coelho Center and LMU. Her effective start date is Jan. 1, 2027.

Save the Date: 2027 Faculty Awards Ceremony

Mark your calendars for Tuesday, March 16, 2027, as LMU comes together to celebrate the extraordinary contributions of our faculty, whose work enriches our students, defines our university, and embodies our mission. The afternoon will begin at 2 p.m. with a Champagne Toast honoring all LMU faculty, followed by the 2027 Faculty Awards Ceremony at 2:30 p.m. Locations and RSVP details will be announced in January.

I am grateful to you for the many ways you encourage our students’ learning and cultivate their intellectual habits, helping to form them into graduates capable of rigorous thought and generous action, prepared to transform the world.

Warmly,

Kat

Kat Weaver, Ph.D.
Executive Vice President and Provost
Professor of Biology