Welcome to the 2025-2026 Academic Year

August 29, 2025

Dear Faculty Colleagues,

Welcome to the start of a new academic year, a time I always find exciting. I love to feel campus buzzing as students – incoming first years, graduate and transfer students, as well as our returning students – bring their dreams, ambitions, and energy back to LMU. I hope the summer months offered each of you time for rest, renewal, and the pursuits—scholarly, creative, or personal—that nourish your spirit. Whether you taught, researched, traveled, or simply took a break, I am grateful for everything you bring back to our campus community and to our students.

As we return, I pause here to acknowledge that we do so in a time filled with uncertainty and suffering, both locally and in so many places across the globe. Our mission calls each of us to help create a world in which every individual can flourish in their fullest expression of God’s love, and to pursue justice where it is most needed. I hope we can find purpose, and perhaps some solace, in that mission and in the shared work we do for our students.

Two announcements:

I would first like to announce that I will be hosting a series of monthly Community Conversations. In the spirit of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange, whose living legacy at LMU includes a commitment to bridge building and working in and through relationship, these gatherings will provide opportunities for you to hear directly from me, our Faculty and Staff Senate presidents, and other faculty and university leaders, and for you to ask questions and share your perspectives with us.

The first Community Conversation of the semester will be held on Sept. 16th from 3:30-5 p.m. in St. Roberts Auditorium and will be followed by a wine and cheese reception. I look forward to talking with you there. Please RSVP here if you plan to attend.

I want to also take this occasion to second President Poon’s affirmation of the importance of integrating mission across the university. Inclusion, belonging, and justice are core to LMU’s mission. As the university’s academic affairs leader, I will champion the efforts of the many faculty and staff who have strengthened LMU’s commitment to these values and who continue to move us forward. Associate Provost Heather Tarleton, who has led faculty affairs and professional development for the past two years, overseeing significant investments in faculty well-being, professional success, and our collective capacity as equity-minded educators, will lead the efforts focused on faculty. Associate Provost Tarleton has an exciting vision for what mission integration can mean for faculty affairs and will work closely with John Sebastian, newly appointed as the university’s senior vice president for Mission; Linda Clowers, associate vice president for Student Success and Belonging; Nancy Pluzdrak, vice president of Human Resources; and others to implement this vision in support of faculty excellence and success.

Sincerely,

Kat Weaver, Ph.D.
Interim Executive Vice President and Provost
Vice Provost for Faculty, Research, and Strategy