October 23, 2023

Dear colleagues,

What a fabulous Homecoming & Reunion Weekend! Whether you attended the parade, football game, or maybe even the Saturday Night Bash, I hope you enjoyed the fun. I had a great time kicking off the Year of the Arts with the Arts Quarter dedication, and I look forward to experiencing the many events, performances and gatherings that our community has planned for that space.

Those able to attend the dedication with Glenn Close ‘74, D.A. ‘89, H.F. ‘19 heard a heartwarming and inspiring reflection on the performing arts at W&M. Close generously shared how meaningful it was to return to her “first true community, … to the place that looked on me as a whole human being with unlimited potential.” As always, her homecoming was a testament to the university’s unique ability to spur student talent and to inspire alumni to lives of remarkable accomplishment.

With that, here are this week’s Top 5 Things to Know:

This week, higher education expert Kevin McClure will join me and the deans to share strategies from his research to support thriving within the faculty experience in higher education today. His lecture, “The Caring University: A Roadmap to Reimagining the Higher Education Workplace,” sponsored by the W&M Higher Education Program, will be held 6:30–7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 24, in Room 1056 in the School of Education. As we work to support wellness on our campuses for students, faculty and staff, experts like Dr. McClure offer fresh insight, options and best practices in the industry.
Come join your colleagues at this week’s Pub on the Patio, from 4-5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 25, on Swem Library’s conservation patio. Just prior to this social event, STLI (who is sponsoring Pub on the Patio), along with IT and Swem are hosting a workshop at 3 p.m. in the Ford Classroom, “Amplifying Your Faculty Work: Open Access, ScholarWorks, ORCID.” The workshop explores ways to entice readers to engage with your scholarship, including through open-source publishing, as well as an introduction to the ScholarWorks platform.
Part of W&M’s Vision 2026 democracy pillar includes encouraging and supporting constructive dialogue among community members. Last week, Vice President for Student Affairs Ginger Ambler shared information about resources to do so, including the Constructive Dialogue Institute’s online learning program, Perspectives, which is free to all W&M community members. I encourage you to use the institute’s resources, and I appreciate your efforts to promote respectful dialogue at William & Mary.
Strategic Cultural Partnerships, the Omohundro Institute and Colonial Williamsburg invite you to attend the closing plenary session of the second “For 2026: Contested Freedoms” conference, featuring scholar and author Ned Blackhawk of Yale University. Dr. Blackhawk will discuss his recent book, The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History, and the Indigenous origins of the American revolution. Sponsored by W&M’s Brafferton Initiative, the event is free and open to the public at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 28, in ISC 1221. Seats are first come, first served, with doors opening at 4:30 p.m.
The shout-out for this week goes to members of the Mason School who visited the Virginia Peninsula Foodbank for a half-day of service, which they spent preparing over 800 backpacks as part of the foodbank's lunch supplementation program. As noted in the article Mason posted detailing the day, the effort served as an “example of how community members and academic institutions can unite to immediately impact pressing social issues.”