Since assuming office Jan. 1, University President Scott Beardsley has embarked on a “listening and learning initiative” with the ambitious goal of spanning the entire University community.
In a statement to The Cavalier Daily, University Spokesperson Bethanie Glover described the initiative — Grounds for Conversation — as an effort to learn the University’s strengths and areas for improvement.
“Through these meetings, President Beardsley is learning where U.Va. currently shines, what we should keep doing, where there are opportunities to improve against our mission, and what 'no regret moves’ would accelerate our impact,” Glover wrote.
The tour, according to its website, aims to “gather feedback and insights from the University community.” Conversations during the tour and feedback from a survey open to community members linked on the website will help formulate future decisions and identify opportunities for the University moving forward.
“Beardsley is eager to learn what drives our community’s tremendous pride in U.Va. and to hear ideas for short-term and longer-term actions to accelerate progress in support of the University’s mission as we work to fulfill the mission’s full potential,” the website reads.
University community members — students, faculty, staff and alumni — are joining Beardsley for conversations around the world, spanning from U.Va. Health and the College at Wise to cities across the Commonwealth and the globe.
According to Glover, Beardsley has met with leaders and representatives of all 12 University schools, U.Va. Health, the College at Wise and U.Va. Northern Virginia. Glover also noted he has met with past and present student leaders of class councils, the Honor Committee, the University Judiciary Committee and Student Council.
Beardsley’s meetings — or “engagements,” as described by the initiative’s website — have varied in content and scope depending on the group, and Glover wrote that they will continue into the 2026-27 academic year.
According to Eric Swensen, public information officer for U.Va. Health, Beardsley’s meeting with U.Va. Health consisted of a tour of several intensive care units, the Emergency Department and the Children’s Hospital. Beardsley also joined a faculty meeting at the School of Medicine, Swensen wrote in a statement to The Cavalier Daily.
“We greatly appreciate President Beardsley’s interest in learning more about the health system and how quickly he reached out to schedule his visits,” Swensen wrote. “The faculty and staff were so pleased to meet President Beardsley and share their stories about U.Va. Health and its impact.”
According to Jared Lathrop, senior communications manager for the Department of Safety and Security, Beardsley also met with the DSS at Zehmer Hall. Beardsley spoke with representatives from the University Police Department and from the Offices of Emergency Management, Youth Protection, Threat Assessment, Clery Compliance, Security Technology and Fire Safety, according to Lathrop.
Staff engaged directly with Beardsley by asking questions and making comments during the listening sessions, Lathrop wrote.
“[Staff discussed] concerns about budget pressures, staffing and the growing costs and complexity associated with securing large-scale events,” Lathrop wrote. “We appreciated President Beardsley taking the time to listen, ask questions and engage directly with our teams about both the opportunities and concerns shaping the future of safety and security at U.Va.”
Both the Health System and DSS have faced highly publicized challenges and controversies over the last few years. Former U.Va. Health CEO Craig Kent and Melina Kibbe, former dean of the School of Medicine, are named in an ongoing lawsuit alleging misconduct and illegal efforts to maximize patient revenue while compromising patient safety. Kent and Kibbe have expressed that the allegations are “false,” and Kent filed a defamation lawsuit Feb. 23 that accuses Jones Swanson Huddell LLC and its attorneys Gladstone Jones and Lynn Swanson of waging a "defamatory campaign” to force Kent out of his position.
As for the DSS, the department has responded to a heightened number of reported on-Grounds threats to safety in the last few years. The University faced two separate false threats during the last academic year — a false bomb threat in Shannon Library in March and a false active shooter alert on Grounds in November.
Safety protocols have continued to be updated since the Nov. 13, 2022 shooting that took the lives of three members of the University's football team. For example, emergency text alerts are now automatic for every member of the University community — rather than prior to the November 2022 shooting when members received text alerts only if they opted-in — and the University has also established the Office of Threat Assessment to centralize behavioral threat analysis and crisis response.
According to Kerry Grannis, senior associate dean and chief administrative officer at the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, scheduling difficulties have delayed some of Beardsley’s planned meetings. Grannis said the faculty and staff of the University’s largest academic unit have not had a chance to meet with the University president this semester through Grounds for Conversation as a whole, although the school’s senior leadership has held productive meetings with him.
“Arts & Sciences is very large [with] lots of faculty and lots of staff and our all-school meetings are scheduled way, way in advance for the year,” Grannis said. “It’s just really difficult to convene the whole body of Arts & Sciences without a lot of lead time.”
Grannis said the school’s leadership, including College Dean Christa Acampora, has nonetheless had productive consultations with Beardsley and his team and hopes to arrange a meeting between Beardsley and the general staff and faculty in the fall when there is more time to prepare scheduling.
“Dean Acampora met with President Beardsley and his team and her leadership team this spring, and that was a great initial conversation,” Grannis said. “We are actively working with [Arts & Sciences] to plan for those opportunities for the fall for Beardsley to get to interact with a broader group, and not just the Dean's office team.”
According to Glover, all members of the University community can complete the survey on the Grounds for Conversation website or email Beardsley directly to share their thoughts.
Nicolas Biernacki is a staff writer on the news desk. He is a fourth-year Government student from Ashburn, Va.
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