Classroom management and behavioral expectations

Main Building - Main Campus

Fostering healthy and inclusive learning environments in our classrooms is central to our mission of academic excellence and student success.

Toward those goals, I am assembling a task group to provide guidance and recommendations on classroom management practices and behavioral expectations.

This task group will be led by the Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Heather Shipley, and will include, but is not limited to, the Vice President for Inclusive Excellence Myron Anderson, Interim Dean of Students LT Robinson, and representatives from Faculty Senate, Deans’ Council, Department Chairs’ Council, the Student Government Association, the President’s Student Advisory Council and the offices of Student Success and Academic Affairs. This group will review our current guidance on classroom management, as well as the impact of implicit biases and behavior by both faculty and students. The outcome of this task group’s work is the development of clear guidelines for excellence in today’s learning environments.

The creation of this task group was motivated by our commitment to being an exemplar university, and was a key recommendation from the internal investigation into the classroom management practices of Dr. Anita Moss. In the spirit of transparency, I am sharing the investigation report with some personal information redacted.

I understand there remain concerns among faculty and students about the classroom environment. I am confident that the work of the new task group will help address those concerns.

Our efforts to strengthen our culture of support are ongoing, and I invite you to share your thoughts as we work collectively to create healthier and more inclusive learning environments for the benefit of our students and our faculty.

Kimberly Andrews Espy, Ph.D.
Peter T. Flawn Distinguished Professor
Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs