October 30, 2023

Dear colleagues,

Recalling another successful Family Weekend, thank you for welcoming our students’ loved ones, whether that was by opening your classroom or greeting and guiding them as they walked through campus. Parent & Family Programs greeted 4,000+ family members on campus! Your volunteerism and warmth enables our students and their families to consider W&M a second home.

Looking ahead, Danielle Moretti-Langholtz, the Thomasina E. Jordan Director of the W&M American Indian Resource Center, will deliver the fall 2023 Tack Faculty Lecture, “Reconnecting Native Narratives to the Brafferton Indian School,” on Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. in the Sadler Center Commonwealth Auditorium. As this year commemorates the 300th anniversary of the completion of the Brafferton Indian School, it’s an excellent time to hear from Danielle on her work uncovering new perspectives on this complex story.

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

I call your attention to two guidance documents recently posted to the Resources section of the Provost’s webpage and shared in Dean Raitt’s Friday message: Media and Social Media Guidelines for Faculty Work (pdf) and Personal Communications and Social Media Guidelines (pdf). Although these guidelines are not new policies, they draw on relevant provisions of the Faculty Handbook and other existing policies to provide recommended strategies for limiting confusion regarding increasingly complex communications. The guidelines will be refined as needed. Earlier drafts were reviewed by Faculty Assembly and we have shared the current versions with Faculty Assembly President Scott Swan. Many thanks to Suzanne Raitt, Pamela Eddy and Carrie Nee for their contributions refining these important guidelines.
My office is pleased to invite the W&M community to a symposium featuring the research groups funded during the 2022-23 Interdisciplinary Innovation Research Fund call for proposals. The symposium will be on Wednesday, Nov. 8, from 1-4:30 p.m. in Brinkley Hall at the Mason School of Business, with a reception to follow in the same location. My office is hosting the event in advance of a new call for proposals during the 2023-24 academic year; these talks are sure to inspire.
The Office of Career Development & Professional Engagement invites faculty and staff with anticipated summer 2024 applied learning opportunities (e.g., internships, research) for students to join the Internships & Applied Learning Expo scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 15 from 4-6 p.m. on the Sadler Terrace. Faculty and staff interested in joining the expo are asked to complete the Expo Interest Form to reserve a table. Fall-themed refreshments, including cider and donuts, will be provided along with music from the W&M Appalachian Music Ensemble.
For those looking to adapt their writing for various audiences, two upcoming events may be helpful. First, Elizabeth Talbott, associate dean for research & faculty development at the School of Education, will present “Tips and Tricks for Science Communication,” on using a narrative approach to pitch research to policymakers, funders, grant reviews and more. The event will be held virtually on Thursday, Nov. 9, at 3 p.m. Additionally, American Studies Ph.D. candidate Kelsey Smoot (they/he) will hold an interactive workshop on transforming your writing into accessible, short-form prose ready to be published in digital news and media outlets. “How to Write for A Digital Audience” will be held from 5-7 p.m. on Zoom and in Tucker 123 on Nov. 8. More information about this event can be found in the Oct. 30 edition of the W&M Digest, and registration is encouraged.
This week’s shout-out goes to the multidisciplinary research done by W&M’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science, the Global Research Institute, the Institute for Integrative Conservation and the Religious Studies Department on the Nepal Water Initiative. This incredible work is a perfect example of W&M’s priorities when it comes to multidisciplinary research and the Water pillar of Vision 2026. I am proud of the entire team’s efforts to conduct this research in a way that considers culture, geospatial science, development finance, conservation and more.