Colleagues,
Thanks to everyone who attended the December Coffee with the Chancellor and following retirement reception! As always, you can view the PowerPoint slides here. I look forward to reading the heartfelt comments so many of you provided on the paper that will be placed on the back of the beautiful photo collage of our iconic IU South Bend bridge in four seasons.
You can also view the Timeline of Accomplishments PowerPoint here. It was fun to review everything we have achieved together, from my installation in October of 2019 to weathering the global pandemic and now well on our way to recovering from that tragic and historic event. We have so much to be proud of that we have achieved together!
I think as all of you know, I have a fondness for nature and trees, in particular. In my installation speech, I used communities of trees as an analogy for communities of people. I quoted this passage from Peter Wohlleben, the German forester who wrote the book, The Hidden Life of Trees:
“But why are trees such social beings? Why do they share food with their own species and sometimes even go so far as to nourish their competitors? The reasons are the same as for human communities: there are advantages to working together. A tree is not a forest. On its own, a tree cannot establish a consistent climate. It is at the mercy of wind and weather. But together, many trees create an ecosystem that moderates extremes of heat and cold, stores a great deal of water, and generates a great deal of humidity. And in this protected environment, trees can live to be very old. To get to this point, the community must remain intact no matter what. If every tree were looking out only for itself, then quite a few of them would never reach old age. Regular fatalities would result in many large gaps in the tree canopy, which would make it easier for storms to get inside the forest and uproot more trees. The heat of summer would reach the forest floor and dry it out. Every tree would suffer. Every tree, therefore, is valuable to the community and worth keeping round for as long as possible. And that is why even sick individuals are supported and nourished until they recover. Next time, perhaps it will be the other way around, and the supporting tree might be the one in need of assistance.”
It has been my greatest honor and pleasure to be part of this extraordinary community over the past five and a half years. I am thrilled by the gift of the IU bench that will be placed near the trees we planted together in the Fall of 2019 as a physical reminder of our connections as a community. I hope when you walk by those trees, you might sit on that bench and think about how lucky we all are to be part of this community. I look forward to visiting campus every now and then and sitting on that bench as well!
I look forward to a smooth transition to new leadership on campus, assisting in whatever way is helpful to the new chancellor. However, this new leader will have all of you to help them learn about our campus community and get a strong start in building on our successes to reach even greater heights and brighter futures! I am proud of the culture of leadership we have built and how so many of you have stepped into leadership roles, whether they be formal or informal. It takes a village and, in the spirit of shared leadership, I hope this culture of leadership will continue.
To keep the leadership development momentum going, I am establishing a Building Leadership Capacity foundation fund to provide support for the continuation of the faculty and staff leadership development programming I started in 2020. Look for an announcement from Deb Schmitt in the spring for more information on this opportunity.
Please do stay in touch! I have enjoyed getting to know and working with everyone at IU South Bend. You can always find me on LinkedIn or reach me at my iu.edu email address or susan@changeleadershipgroup.org. While I will be relocating to the Reno, NV area to spend time with my family, I will remain active in higher education as a scholar, consultant, and coach related to change leadership with AAAS, AASCU, the Business-Higher Education Forum, CUMU, and other national organizations. If you are curious about my work, please check out these publications: the Change Leadership Toolkit (2023) and Shared Leadership in Higher Education (2022).
Thanks to everyone who attended our annual holiday staff appreciation event. The planning team did an amazing job, as usual. It is so important to take the time to celebrate and enjoy one another’s company as a community. I wish each and every one of you a wonderful holiday season filled with joy, laughter, and memory-making experiences with friends and family.
With Hoosier Spirit and Titan Pride,
Susan Elrod
Susan Elrod, PhD
Chancellor
Indiana University South Bend