September 5, 2023
With the first official few days of our entire campus being back in action, I have to say: It feels great! I was delighted to see so many new and familiar faces at our Opening Convocation and at the faculty welcome and reception on Friday. I look forward to more opportunities to connect with each of you this year.
With that, here are the Top 5 for this week:
- Every ten years, W&M undertakes a review with its accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). A successful review is required for the university to remain accredited. Among the many requirements of the review is our ability to demonstrate the excellence and qualifications of our faculty, so it’s key that we have a robust central repository of all faculty information and accomplishments. W&M uses Faculty Success within the Watermark Faculty Successprogram to showcase faculty achievements and collect data. We are aiming to collect data for the period from 2012 to now to report on the full range of faculty accomplishments, so, when asked by your dean, please check your relevant data for your respective time at William & Mary. The deadline for the university to complete this data gathering is Nov. 1, 2023. Thank you for your participation; I look forward to the resulting impressive collection of achievements!
- For faculty in need of important equipment for classrooms and labs, instructions for the FY24 Higher Education Equipment Trust Fund (HEETF) application process have been provided to each of the schools and other areas eligible to request these funds. All requests will be routed through the dean or unit head for prioritization and approval for submission to the HEETF Committee, which consists of representatives from the schools, research, my office and information technology. The goal is for the HEETF Committee to share funding recommendations with me prior to the end of the fall semester so that units can proceed with purchasing approved equipment. Please ensure that you share any request for funding with your dean. Requests are due from the deans and unit heads by Sept. 29, 2023.
- As W&M Information Technology previously announced, a new state law took effect July 1 requiring William & Mary to prohibit employee and independent contractor access to TikTok, WeChat and other applications. Employees may no longer use applications owned by the companies ByteDance and Tencent on the university's network (including VIMS) and university-owned devices. W&M-sponsored TikTok accounts should not be used in any manner. Students, faculty and staff will still be able to access these apps on a personal device via cellular services or an off-campus network connection. Visit the W&M IT website to learn more.
- This Friday, Sept. 8, William & Mary will host the inaugural Internships & Applied Learning Student Showcase in the Sadler Center, Tidewater A & B starting at noon. Students who received internship support through the Charles Center, Strategic Cultural Partnerships or the Office of Career Development & Professional Engagement will highlight their internships and communicate what they have learned and how it has shaped their academic and professional goals. One of W&M's goals is to achieve 85 percent undergraduate participation in an internship and/or applied learning experience by 2026. The Student Showcase serves as a community celebration, highlighting the impact our students had within their respective internship experiences, and a demonstration of their continued professional and intellectual growth. This will be a great opportunity to get a sense of the work our students are doing, and I hope to see you there!
- The shout-out for this week goes to the team at VIMS who recently partnered with JASON Learning to create the curriculum (free for Virginia educators!) “Beyond the Water Bottle: Minimizing Microplastic Pollution.” That curriculum was honored with a Best of STEM Award in the category Social Impact Award for Developing Citizen Scientists! For more information, here is a press release about the award.
Thank you,
Peggy
