UIS Director Katharine Owens Steps Down

Dear UHart Community, 

It is with mixed emotions that we announce that on June 30, Katharine Owens will step down as director of the University Interdisciplinary Studies (UIS) program, a position she has held since 2017, supported at every step by her team: Judy Wyman, Tatum Krause, and Sally Henowitz. Kat is freeing up her time to focus more on the support of her home A&S department: Politics, Economics, and International Studies. 

Kat sought to improve and fortify this large interdisciplinary general education program that serves all baccalaureate students at the University and lists upwards of 120 courses each year taught by 90 active faculty.

As UIS director, Kat increased the number of full-time faculty participating in the program through initiatives like annual calls for new courses, college flagship courses, and the faculty fellows program. While full-time faculty participation shifts from year to year, there has been consistent and higher participation during Kat’s tenure. In Spring 2017, six percent of UIS courses were taught by full-time faculty. From Fall 2018 to present, between 16 percent and 25 percent of classes each semester have been taught by full-time faculty, including 25 percent in Spring 2023.

Kat and her team worked to encourage more courses in the program focused on diversity, implementing an initiative begun by previous director Caryn Christensen to establish and proliferate diversity classes. This led to the creation of courses such as Black Economic Entrepreneurialism: Generational Wealth and “Opportunity” in America as well as The Philosophy of Indigenous Education: The Truth about Education in this Country. The program also frequently worked with the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Community Engagement to co-host campus-wide programming. Kat prioritized hiring and retaining faculty of color for the program, with representation increasing from roughly 10 percent of UIS courses taught by faculty of color to an average of 18 percent of UIS courses each year, though she notes this remains lower than her goal.

Kat oversaw the transition from the All-University Curriculum program to UIS and was charged with creating the first assessment strategy for the UIS program, establishing an annual program to collect and evaluate data on integrative learning as well as intercultural knowledge and competence. During her tenure, Kat also oversaw enhanced faculty training and community building, consistency in the curriculum across multiple sections of courses, and student support.  

It must also be noted that Kat did an excellent job leading her team and shepherding the program through the COVID-19 pandemic, including encouragement, support, training, and professional development for all program members during this difficult time.

She also worked on a year-long project with faculty from all of the colleges to transform the University-wide general education program, creating a vision to build towards. In particular, in collaboration with Beth Richards, Kat is leading an initiative to infuse writing to belong and foster a sense of belonging in first-year courses.  

In all of this work, Kat has done an absolutely amazing job. Please join us in congratulating her on these accomplishments.

 

Sincerely,

Katherine Black, Interim Provost

Jim Shattuck, Associate Provost for Undergraduate Studies