Thank You, and a Favor

Dear Colleagues,

As the semester draws to a close and we turn our attention to celebrating our students’ achievements at graduation, I want to pause for a moment to say thank you, and to ask for a favor.

First, thank you for making my first three months at UIC so wonderful.  All of the faculty and staff I have met have welcomed me warmly and I have been so impressed with the quality of the research and scholarship going on at UIC, and with your dedication to our students and to a bright future for UIC. I feel privileged to be here and to have the opportunity to work with you to help build that bright future. We are not lacking in challenges on many fronts, but I am certain that we have the resourcefulness (even without enough resources) to move forward and reach our potential as a most extraordinary institution.

Now to the favor. Those of you who have been in my office have seen the faculty and student art on display, but you have also seen my rows of empty bookshelves. This is due to a combination of the pile of yet unopened boxes in my home, and my own lack of time and motivation to figure out what is in them and then drag them to work. So I need your help.

If you are the author of a published book and you have an extra copy to spare, I would be honored if you would send it or bring it over to my office in UH 2832 (mail code 105). I would like to fill my bookshelves with faculty scholarship. This will provide me with summer (and fall, winter, spring…) reading material and provide a showcase of UIC faculty work for visitors to my office. I hope you will consider assisting me with this project.

Thank you for all that you do for UIC and I wish you a great summer!

Sincerely,

Susan Poser
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs