Dear colleagues,

I am truly inspired and encouraged by the ideas and insights shared by Academic Affairs staff and faculty in our revitalization process. As I reflected on our recent retreat while on a walk with my dog the other night, I was awestruck by the many stars that shone brightly after a dark, cloudy day and stopped to admire some of the stars that were aligned in familiar visible constellations – constellations that have created meaning and provided direction throughout human history. It reminded me of the constellation of hope vision that Pope Leo XIV shared last year as a metaphor. I thought that a constellation metaphor could also be compelling for us in Academic Affairs, given our focus on connecting the best in education, public health, health care, and discovery to positively impact health outcomes in our communities.

As you know, we continue to face many challenges in health care, public health, and higher education, with growing health professions shortages in rural communities, persistent health inequities impacting urban populations, economic uncertainties, and evolving needs of learners. No matter how brightly any one single person, program, unit, department, school, institution, or health system shines, they cannot solve these complex challenges alone. We can, however, continue to celebrate each bright light and, at the same time, find ways to further amplify our education opportunities to positively impact health outcomes by intentionally connecting many of the bright lights to build upon existing excellence and create new opportunities.

We have many stars shining bright within and beyond Academic Affairs, from exceptional programs and talented people to committed communities, including health system partners, and learners who dream of making a difference. Our shared responsibility now is to better align the stars across units, programs, disciplines, professions, schools, institutions, and communities to accelerate education innovation that amplifies our collective positive impact on health outcomes. By better aligning educational pathways and learner programs across the School of Medicine and Public Health, as well as enhancing education programs with community, university, and health system partners, I truly believe that we can create even better and brighter learner experiences that will prepare future health professionals to more effectively anticipate and respond to the needs of the people and populations they serve in Wisconsin and beyond.

Highly effective collaborations are our single greatest opportunity to be successful. To create a future health-focused workforce that can work effectively across boundaries and address barriers to better serve the needs of our communities – a shared goal that I heard multiple times throughout our revitalization work – we must create and model such collaborations. Each individual point of light that we bring closer in alignment will brighten the path moving forward. As we form a network of constellations, we will create meaning that guides us, and we will be better equipped to optimize health outcomes. I am grateful to you, the many bright “stars” of Academic Affairs, who have shared wonderful ideas and brought positive energy to our revitalization thus far. I look forward to your contributions in the next phase.

During the next phase, we will work together to connect and align the stars in meaningful ways with our mission, strategy, and operational needs based on your feedback. We will light the path forward in ways that illuminate your great work for others to see. We will also work to create more relevant, equitable, and transparent metrics to promote mission-aligned accountability. Importantly, we will analyze vacancies to focus on filling positions that align with priorities identified through our redesign process in ways that will foster partnerships that will brighten the work we do. In short, the next phase of our process will move from engagement with assessment of needs to implementation with goals of sustained and responsive organizational effectiveness. It will guide us and illuminate a bright future for our faculty, staff, learners, and communities. Next time you look up at a starry sky, think about the constellations that connect and inspire you. And keep sharing your bright ideas!

– Elizabeth M. Petty, MD, Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs