November 15, 2024

Dear A&S Colleagues,

As a Brit, I feel duty-bound to talk about the weather occasionally, so I must mention that, just in time for Thanksgiving break, it finally feels like fall. I have been finding peace and solace in nature this season, letting the scenery and (occasional) crisp temperatures serve as a reminder to be present. Also, being rained on reminds me to stay awake. Two quick notes before I dive in. Congratulations to Regina Jones, Fiscal Technician in A&S, for being the first to correctly identify the three locations in this week's A&S newsletter. Regina gets the prize! And also, for those of you who are linguistically minded, the subject line is in Thai. Very beautiful.

Before you head into the weekend and the final stretch before the break, I share a few important notes for you:

Three percent increase for adjunct faculty: As I noted in last week’s message, adjunct faculty will receive a 3% merit increase effective for the 2024-25 academic year. To account for the mid-semester increase, adjunct faculty working this fall will receive a one-time retroactive bonus pay from their fall appointment begin date through November 9 in their December 1 paycheck, and effective November 10, salaries will be adjusted for the remaining pay periods through contract duration. Please note that the increase will be applied to all contracted pay, and we do not plan to issue new contracts at this time. Departments & programs will receive adjunct rate memos outlining the new per-credit rates following the 3% increase.
Lynda Barry: Inclusive Inquiry Speaker Series, February 14, 2025: I am thrilled to announce that Lynda Barry, acclaimed author and artist, will be joining us on campus on Friday, February 14 for our 2025 Inclusive Inquiry Speaker Series. Lynda will present the keynote, The Unthinkable Mind: Art in Ordinary Human Experience, and will lead a faculty workshop on the same topic. Save the date and look for RSVP information soon!
Scholarly Perspectives Series Spring 2025: Arts & Democracy: The Reves Center and Arts & Sciences are excited to support a Spring 2025 Scholarly Perspectives series on Arts & Democracy, following the model of the Spring 2024 series on the Middle East. We will host four visitors whose artistic practice aims to impact democratic processes, with Guatemalan photographer Daniel Hernandez Salazar serving as our keynote on April 8, 2025. This theme will also serve a COLL 300 cluster of courses and be the organizing principle behind our (revived) Spring Academic Festival, to be scheduled for the second-to-last week of classes. We encourage you to identify Spring 2025 courses that could fit this COLL 300 theme. The full roster of visitors and event dates will be posted by the end of this semester to facilitate inclusion in your syllabi.
Faculty Grant Fund Applications due December 13: Applications for the Faculty Grants Fund and Teaching Faculty Grants Fund, which are reviewed on a quarterly basis, are due by December 13. We are proud to support many exceptional projects and efforts across A&S. Below are several examples of previous Faculty Grants Fund-supported projects. We look forward to highlighting many more, including Teaching Faculty projects, in the coming months.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

A chance encounter at an event on Wednesday reminded me of childhood pleasures, and especially of the TV shows we used to watch. This is a quick tour through them. I am not sure why I think you would be interested, and if you’re not, you could always stop reading now. They did have some funny animals in them, though. And I don’t think they were distributed in the US. The US had more sense than to want them.

This first short extract is from Bill and Ben The Flowerpot Men, starring Bill, Ben and the Little Weed. You have to watch this, if only for the voices and for the insight into the very messed-up world of British children. It’s a miracle we survived experiences like this one. Then, there is the Magic Roundabout, complete with characters Ermintrude, Dougal, Zebedee, Brian, Florence and Dylan. Again, what’s with the voices? I can’t believe I listened to these EVERY SINGLE EVENING as a kid. It explains a lot.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Best wishes, Suzanne

Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences
Chancellor Professor of English
Pronouns: she/her/hers