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Wednesday, May 7, 2025
Strengthening Our Teaching Ecosystem
Hi all,
This time of year naturally invites reflection. We celebrate the achievements of our graduating students, applaud the effort and impact of a successful semester, and begin to look ahead to the changes and opportunities on the horizon.
Planning for the 2025–26 academic year is well underway, early enrollment numbers are strong, and new course offerings further align us with the latest industry trends. For those of us who attended MSI/MHI Visiting Day, the enthusiasm radiating from prospective students was palpable. Looking to the fall, the excitement too is building as we prepare to officially launch the new three-year BSI and welcome our first class of sophomore undergraduates. Speaking of building, moving day has finally arrived! We’ll soon find ourselves settled into our new home in Leinweber and fully embracing the challenge of balancing teaching and learning across two campuses. All of this, of course, is also occurring alongside the essential, ongoing work of revising classes, hiring and training GSIs and IAs, organizing teaching teams, supporting students, welcoming new cohorts, and everything else that makes our teaching mission possible.
While so much change can feel overwhelming, as someone who started as a student back in 1874, I feel qualified to share some wisdom. I was in one of the first classes of MSI students, where we were still managing that transition from SILS to SI. It was a major change for everyone. We never thought we’d add an undergraduate program in those early years, but now those students are an essential part of our community. The School of Information lives in innovation. To meet the ever-evolving demands of the future and remain on the cutting edge of technology and teaching, we must embrace change.
Here’s a fun anecdote about how we’ve managed change at the School over the years. On the day Google was announced in Beta, I was in a class on Social Science Librarianship with Dr. Tom Slavens. He would ask us questions that were hard to find answers to, and our job was to go to the library and find those answers. However, as we were playing with the newborn Google in the class, it became clear that it could answer all of those questions without leaving the room. The world had changed. Our world in UMSI has changed many times since I’ve been here, and so far, we’ve been good at riding the wave of that change.
In my family, we have a set of Lampe Rules we live by. The first rule is, “Don’t let perfect be the enemy of the possible.” I firmly believe that the exceptional talent, drive, and passion of our UMSI faculty, staff, and students not only make anything possible, it provides us the ability to push the envelope on what is possible. I am so proud to work each day with dedicated, talented people who always seem to have their eyes on the horizon and a shared commitment to moving the School into the future.
This summer, let us acknowledge that change is difficult, but necessary, as we continue building a future for and through our students, one we can all be proud of.
Best,
Cliff Lampe, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
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