Campus community invited to University Academic Leadership Forum on Dec. 17 The end-of-the-semester session of the University Academic Leadership Forum will be held at noon Thursday, Dec. 17, in the Lecture Bowl at the Memorial Union. As stated in the announcement of the inaugural session earlier this semester: The forum will be an opportunity for all members of the UND community - faculty, students, staff, administrators - to bring to the Provost and the Deans any questions, suggestions, concerns or comments about the way in which the University is fulfilling its academic mission, and for the academic leadership to share information and ideas. I realize that the scheduling of this session is less than ideal. We honestly did not mean for "end of the semester" to appear to be as close to lining up for the commencement processional as Thursday's scheduling might suggest. We are experimenting with a set of vehicles to enhance communication and conversations about important academic issues, and will plan to have two more sessions of this forum during the spring semester, with January and April as target dates. The agenda item for the session on Dec. 17 will be managing the academic implications of controversies affecting the university. As we know, we're not sure what the SBHE decision will be in on Dec. 17. The Forum can be an opportunity to share ideas, insights, concerns, and strategies. -- Paul LeBel, Office of the Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs