January 22, 2024

Dear colleagues,

I hope you all had a wonderful break and are looking forward to the start of the semester. Like you, I always enjoy seeing the students return and the multitude of activities resume. The Year of the Arts kicks off 2024 with excitement too. Among many upcoming events, the Muscarelle Museum of Art will open its next pop-up exhibition at the Stryker Center featuring photography from current W&M students. Plus, in case you missed it, the YOTA team provided fabulous digital assets for broad use, including on our Cascade sites and social media pages. I look forward to spotting Year of the Arts Zoom backgrounds and social banners across our digital campus!

Here are the Top 5 Things to Know this week:

W&M’s 331st birthday is nearly upon us. This year’s Charter Day celebration thematically features the ongoing Year of the Arts, elevating the vital role arts play in all facets of a W&M education. We will welcome distinguished guests and honorary degree recipients to campus, Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III and former W&M Rector Jeffrey B. Tramell ‘73; Secretary Bunch will headline the event and deliver remarks. Additional greetings from Chancellor Gates and student performances will liven the afternoon.
Recently the Board of Visitors launched an initiative to identify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) across campus, in areas where we can further the university mission, improve the student experience and highlight faculty contributions. My office has convened a large team of approximately 40 members of our faculty and staff todiscuss and track progress in the following six areas: student success, research grants, applied learning opportunities, post-graduation outcomes, and faculty impact and workload in both teaching and in research. These six areas each have goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). As progress is made, updates will be shared through Faculty Assembly.
Applications are open through Feb. 16 for the Reves & Drapers’ Faculty Fellows. This is an opportunity for funding research that is internationally focused, and includes financial support for related international travel. If you’re interested, I strongly encourage you to look at information on the current and former fellows to get an idea of the funded research.
Check out the new addition to Swem Library: energy pods chosen and funded by the Student Assembly. The Metronap Pods have several personalized settings, including lighting, sounds and a reclined position. These will provide our community with a space to take breaks and rest between classes/meetings — an action demonstrated to help improve cognitive functioning and retention.
The first shout-out of the semester is for the cybersecurity competition team, which placed among the top 100 teams at the end of the National Cyber League Fall 2023 competition season. The students performed real-world cybersecurity duties and completed tasks that professionals do daily, landing them in 86th place nationally out of the 510 colleges and universities that participated. As with our IGEM team, I am so proud of how these students exhibited their strengths in this area, and look forward to continued success.

Spring 2024 promises to be dynamic and I am thrilled to be working with you during such an exciting time.