Lesley University cuts core faculty and courses! Along with the entire NMS Division, Political Science, Sociology and Social Change, Global Studies, Communications, and Gender Race & Sexuality Studies have also been terminated with the “Better Lesley” initiative. Not only are programs being terminated but many professors have been fired as well, leaving students feeling lost and confused.

To: Dean Steven Shapiro, Provost Deanna Yameen, President Janet Steinmayer, and Dean Nathaniel Mayes 

From: The Students of Lesley University 

Dear Dean Shapiro, Provost Yameen, and President Steinmayer, and Dean Mayes, 

In light of recent events, it is with heavy hearts that we, the student body here at Lesley University, write this amendment to our original petition to bring Professor Christopher Richardson back to teach at Lesley University. As of October 5th 2023, Lesley is cutting the Natural Math and Science division, along with many core, long-term faculty. To claim  “... we are working to bring Lesley together, academically and administratively, as one dynamic university in service to our students and broader community.” and then proceed to dismantle the community, at the time of the first exams, is simply hypocritical. Many of the students have had professors for years, allowing for the learning environment, and community, to feel safe. By removing the individuals who built the Natural Science division, you are ripping the carpet out from under not only the faculty, who are expected to continue their position until the end of the semester but the very students that you claim to care about. 

Time and time again, the higher administration of Lesley University has shown to have a corrupt, even crass corporate, management concept, and this is a prime example. Removing core science and math curriculum is not in service to the students and broader community but to those trying to repair past mismanagement of their own. Within your letter, you affirm us, “We know these changes are hard and difficult for our affected faculty, and for those who remain. Please be assured that these decisions did not come easily, quickly, without deep concern for our employees and students, or without significant effort to make changes in other ways. In fact, the restructuring of programs to meet student needs plays an important role.”, but your actions are conveying a different message. For a school that relies on the tuition payments of those who attend this university to pay various costs such as maintenance or salaries, there is a major lack of consideration for those very people. 

Lesley claims to orient programs with an emphasis on mental health and helping individuals not only understand their own brains and bodies but setting them up with the tools to help others understand themselves. As Lesley cuts these programs, and those equipped to teach them, they are denying students the opportunity to understand the science behind life itself. Many of those enrolled here at Lesley plan to work in the mental health field, which is allegedly an essential part of Lesley, but what they are failing to do is set their students up with the foundations needed to go any farther than that. Advancement within one's own career is often desired, but you are cutting programs that provide students with the proper foundation to continue their education. 

The recent actions taken by the administration team of Lesley University are frankly absurd. This is not a “Better Lesley”, just a cheaper one. While the following letter with over 60 signatures of support specifically addresses the negative impact of losing Professor Richardson, the spirit of this letter applies to the terrible impact of losing all the faculty laid off this week and how much they too are incredibly important to all of us students.

 

 

 

Lesley’s Greatest Asset for Future Healthcare Providers 

 

To: Dean Steven Shapiro, Provost Deanna Yameen, President Janet Steinmayer, and Dean Nathaniel Mayes 

From: The Students of Lesley University 

Dear Dean Shapiro, Provost Yameen, and President Steinmayer, and Dean Mayes, 

 

As members of the Lesley community, especially those within the Natural Sciences and Mathematics department (NSM), we are disappointed that Dr. Christopher Richardson’s position will not be renewed for the coming academic year. This heedless decision will have long-term implications for the Lesley student experience and for the continued growth of our scientific opportunities here at Lesley University. The NSM faculty wrote a letter in response and allowed us to use phrases that, we felt, addressed similar concerns to ones that we are experiencing. We strongly believe you need to reconsider your decision and renew Dr. Richardson’s position for the 2023-2024 academic year. Moreover, not only should the contract be renewed, but altered, to allow Dr. Richardson to obtain a more permanent position here at Lesley University.  

 

Faculty members that have worked with Dr. Richardson admire his extreme dedication as an NSM division member. They explained that, in his past twelve years at Lesley University, he has served as an adjunct, senior instructor, and visiting faculty member, but no matter what title he held, he showed the same level of excellence in teaching, attentiveness, and value equal to that of any core faculty member. In the classroom, Dr. Richardson excels in engaging and supporting students, especially those who may have had little experience, negative past experiences, or those who enter his classes with anxiety and expectations of failure. Many such students have been engrossed by his fun and engaging teaching style: a mix of lectures with small-group activities, discussions, visuals, and anecdotes. Dr. Richardson always conducts his classes with both motivation and inspiration.  

 

According to results seen by other Lesley faculty, “His course evaluations are consistently very good to excellent.” This is recorded proof that his students not only love him, but that they will eternally respect him. Hearing that Dr. Richardson is not being rehired, many of his past/present students wrote personal letters holding concerns. These letters have been given to the Lesley administration yet have yielded an inane response. Students often comment on how rigorous his courses are, yet that is exactly what brings them to love his classes so much -- his expectations are high, but his teaching style and continuous support allows students to reach, and often, exceed them. Dr. Richardson stays active with keeping his courses updated on Blackboard, on content/scheduling, aiding the students to stay on track. Conducting consistent check-ins about levels of comprehension of course content, assignments, and the general well-being of students increases the learning quality immensely. Dr. Richardson is seen as amazing, patient, understanding, and flexible. More importantly, he receives countless Thank-You’s in and out of the classroom for supporting individuals when needed. Staying after each class, he gives time for meetings with students to answer questions or to expand on material he presented during class that may have peaked their interests. College semesters can be brutal at times, often making those enrolled overwhelmed, but because of his kindness, many of us were able to finish strong. Having individual time with students can be highly motivating and reassuring for many of us. Dr. Richardson’s fellow faculty made a particularly good point when saying that “This, highlights what a skilled mentor Dr. Richardson is – having led a class of vastly different people who all feel like valued members and enjoy being part of that group. As you surely are aware, these types of opportunities for students to develop a sense of community and belonging are extremely valuable for retention.” 

 

Over the years of being an adjunct professor at Lesley, Dr. Richardson has taught Introduction Biology I and II, Cell and Molecular Biology, Genetics, Evolution, Anatomy and Physiology I and II, Infectious Diseases – all which are required for obtaining a science degree and are core science courses that, other than Biology I, no other Lesley faculty have the experience to teach. Being a university that claims to have programs that will reward its participants with not only pre-medical degrees, but the experience and knowledge to flourish within future endeavors, and then trying to get rid of the only faculty member who has confidence in instructing multiple levels of biology ceases to make sense. Dr. Richardson has taken on that role at Lesley, so losing his position would destroy the already limited learning we can receive as students. As the students have expressed, professor Dr. Richardson is the biology department at Lesley. We have been lucky enough to know, been taught by, and work collaboratively with him for most of our college careers. Many in the NSM majors have had Dr. Richardson for four out of the five if not all biology classes taken at Lesley University. Professor Richardson is part of the reason we continue to take labs at Lesley University.  

 

Lesley University as it stands, among all majors, has kept the majority of its students due to their connections with professors. Lesley has been lucky to have so many wonderful staff and faculty, and to lose them will lead the university to losing more students. How does an institution believe they will continue to have a natural science program, while simultaneously dismantling it. Trying to save money by cutting the professors that are crucial to the metaphorical ‘science department wheels’ turning, not only lead to Lesley’s loss of the program, but losing more students, and in turn, losing more money. Additionally, since some of our beloved professors will be going on semester long sabbaticals (yay research!) we struggle to see how there will be any way not hiring Dr. Richardson will have a constructive outcome for anyone personally involved in the learning/teaching aspect of Lesley University. Unless the plan is to overwork the small team we have in NSM, please note some already are teaching more classes than they can reasonably handle, while also having families to care for, Lesley will need to hire other adjunct professors to fill his course-load which is illogical. Having a scholar like Dr. Richardson, who is knowledgable in a wide variety of science subjects, is a privilege that Lesley has yet to appreciate the last twelve years. Inconsistency in professors would only inhibit the student experience. For us, Dr. Richardson has become integral in our education at Lesley, bringing the biology major from a tiny program to one with ~ 40 current majors.  If Dr. Richardson were to leave, the Lesley University experience would change completely. It is clear that he is a core part of the foundation and growth of the Science division here at Lesley. Every new class that he has been handed, he has excelled in teaching. He makes science/healthcare field at Lesley worth continuing, and has been the difference between transferring to a new college, and staying enrolled for many of his students.  

 

When discussing Dr. Richardsons accomplishments at Lesley, his fellow faculty explained, “As an adjunct instructor and visiting faculty member he developed multiple new courses, including an online Evolution course, an advanced Laboratory Methods course, and a field course to engage non-majors in science research – Research Experiences in Natural Science. He assisted with our biology major review (despite receiving no extra pay as adjunct faculty at the time) and worked on multiple collaborative grants and conference presentations with other faculty. He also contributed to a recent Lesley innovation grant between NSM and GSOE faculty and the resultant children's book series. Dr. Richardson is a major collaborator on our Mt. Auburn Urban Ecology Research and Education project. This long-term project started six years ago and was initially funded by a 3-year grant from the Ruggiero Memorial Trust, which Chris helped write. His collaborations with Boston University and the Broad Institute have also opened doors for students to obtain research internships and even paid research positions. Undergraduate research experiences are a requirement for students wanting to go into careers in science, so small colleges in particular need faculty like Dr. Richardson that can facilitate students getting these collaborative research experiences.” Lesley being represented by him in the scientific community is an honor that allows our offered programs to be more established and gives students real life practice for future projects that we may embark on. 

 

Mount Auburn Cemetery, a well-known, beautiful, urban wildlife space, is one location students at Lesley have come to know well, which is due to the work Dr. Richardson does. He is one participating researcher in the LUMAC joint internship program, which has offered spots for interns last year and this summer, allowing Lesley undergraduates to conduct ecology research. Dr. Richardson’s work with bat acoustics at Mount Auburn is part of the growing research fields of acoustic monitoring and urban ecology, introducing students and the public to this exciting work. Dr. Richardson has conducted fascinating and important research over the recent years, specifically around physiological and other factors that affect the recovery of bats from white-nose syndrome, a pressing threat to bat populations and ecosystems across the continent. His work on white-nose syndrome has been presented at national conferences and collaboration with researchers across the country and in Canada has formed these valuable connections with Lesley. Several Lesley students, including one currently enrolled and one alumnus who continues to work with Dr. Richardson four years later, have gained valuable experience in data analysis and field work on this project. He always shared his enthusiasm relating to his research with his students and was eager to help students dive into their own research projects. This came through in his lectures and he expanded to offering students experience outside in the research field. Multiple students can fondly recall memories of animal observation/identification and tree surveying from labs that were conducted by him within the field. 

 

Another collaborative relationship developed through Dr. Richardson is one with the Museum of Comparative Zoology (MCZ). Trips to the MCZ not only got the students excited for class, but also proved to be helpful for comprehension, allowing us to make connections between real organisms, and lectures by Dr. Richardson. He is not one to pass up an opportunity to help a student learn and grow. In many of Dr. Richardson’s courses he encouraged more self-directed learning and deep engagement with the material. This is a critical skill that is not emphasized widely enough in undergraduate learning. It is critical because it helped students, even those not particularly interested in the study of science normally, become more active participants in our own learning, and gave us a phenomenal foundation for continued work in the professional sphere, in graduate school, and for research. The very nature of many of Dr. Richardson’s courses is that they are sequential and the way that he teaches and builds on concepts reflects this. There were many times in our Anatomy and Physiology II course, Biology II, and even Cell and Molecular Biology, when we would refer to concepts learned in Biology I. This is the root of why we think it is important to include Dr. Richardson in the long-term core science faculty. The learning experience for students that can work with him through many of their science courses becomes exponentially more valuable. We know this because we got to see this unfold for ourselves, firsthand. 

 

The Lesley Student body knows that not having Dr. Christopher Richardson would not only be a loss of devastating proportions to our small department, but the community. Lesley has spent much time and effort on building the science programs, and staff and students do not want to lose it. Not only do we admire his ability as a scholar, but also how he conducts himself as an individual. The large aspirations, excellent work ethic, and somehow normality of the madness of life that Dr. Richardson has are truly inspiring. We hope that you take our voices seriously, value what we say and experience, and reverse your decision to not rehire such an influential and critical member of the Lesley faculty. 

 

 

 

 

Signed by the following community members: