Oct. 13, 2014
Scribe Staff
[email protected]
It’s no secret that UCCS is expanding at rates we can’t even plan for.
We’re no longer a small school, and we have had our share of growing pains when it comes to parking, construction and classroom availability.
Those three facets of life at UCCS have had to watch their backs, as pressure from students, staff and faculty have forced them to adjust the way they do things.
But now the tables have turned, and it is our faculty and staff that have to keep their wits about them. Staff and faculty members at this university have been able to get away with a small-school attitude for a long time.
UCCS has, frankly, long been an afterthought in Colorado as we played second fiddle not only to our larger neighbor in Boulder but also to other schools around the state such as CSU-Fort Collins and the Air Force Academy.
With that history in mind, some of our staff and faculty have a small school way of doing things and a small school way of representing themselves. That has worked just fi ne in the past. Not now.
The school is developing its own reputation now and beginning to set the standards for the other schools in Colorado, not the other way around.
A word of warning to those on campus that are small school people: watch out. You are a dying, endangered breed.
As UCCS continues to expand, the school will require representatives with a big school mentality. More scrutiny will be put on those that have been here for a while, and analysis will be done to ensure our staff is properly equipped to move UCCS forward.
And they had better be ready, as this is happening right now, in big-kid, world moving speed.
It’s like going from mayor of a town of 2,000 people to mayor of a city of 2 million people in one year. Oh, and someone is watching your every move because they believe you will struggle with the transition.
Those that move slowly, don’t understand how the world works or are out of touch and don’t respond well to change will be the fi rst to go.
As Bob Dylan once explained, “The times, they are a-changin,” and UCCS is not exempt from change, especially due to the rate at which we are expanding. And everyone is watching our change.
When a parking garage is inexplicably behind schedule and there is a turf field on top, people notice. When our neighbors are frustrated by the continued parking issue and Bill Vogrin writes a column in The Gazette, people notice.
When teachers have discussions over what classrooms they will be able to use and when, people notice.
And finally, when faculty and staff members at this seemingly ever changing university mess up, or aren’t good enough in the first place, people will notice.
Keep an eye on this school: lots of folks will either have to shape up, or they will be shipped out. Quickly.