June 23, 2023
Summary
It’s possible your Dean forgot about her Friday message, and then suddenly remembered it right before the end of actual Friday. I hope none of you is actually reading this while it is still Friday. There are better things to do at the end of the week (and probably over the weekend, as well). In fact, there’s only one thing sadder than reading a Friday message on a Friday evening, and that’s writing one. But only one among us is that sad.
Full Description
Dear all,
It’s possible your Dean forgot about her Friday message, and then suddenly remembered it right before the end of actual Friday. I hope none of you is actually reading this while it is still Friday. There are better things to do at the end of the week (and probably over the weekend, as well). In fact, there’s only one thing sadder than reading a Friday message on a Friday evening, and that’s writing one. But only one among us is that sad.
Today’s message just consists of updates about goings-on in the Dean’s office, so you can skip it if you want. In no particular order:
A couple of weeks ago, I went with Gerald Bullock, Executive Director of Development in A&S, to Seattle and then San Francisco to meet with some loyal and generous donors to A&S, and to participate in the W&M Weekend in San Francisco, postponed several times because of Covid, and finally arrvied. Gerald and I had wonderfully interesting and productive conversations with a great group of people, all of whom are keen supporters of everything you do in A&S.
A week later, I went to St Andrews University in Scotland to participate in the graduation ceremony for students in our Joint Degree Program. I know you all think the weather in the UK is awful (not to mention the food), but the sun burned down on our graduates, who were cursed by having to wear red furry graduation robes (see a photo at the bottom of this message). The furry robes were originally designed to make them easy to spot while drinking illicitly in public, but no-one wearing one of these robes would want anything but ice to pass their lips.
The Committee on Computing, Data and Applied Sciences completed its report and submitted it to the Provost. She plans to release it soon for your reading pleasure, and there will be an opportunity to comment.
You may have noticed that the fences have come down on Jamestown Road in front of the new Arts Buildings. Furniture is allowed to enter the buildings. Since furniture cannot walk on its own, people have been generously carrying it in for the past few days. People are otherwise not yet allowed to enter except when carefully supervised, but we expect a Certificate of Temporary Occupancy to be forthcoming very soon. Then it will be the furniture’s turn to carry the people.
In the Dean’s office, we have been working on merit for faculty and staff, and on search authorizations. Expect more news on both soon. I’ve attached the email we all received from Jackie Ferree, Interim Chief Operating Officer, regarding this year’s merit process, fyi in case you misplaced it.
We’ve also been reviewing our processes for searches, and for external reviews of departments and programs, with a view to improving how we do them for next year. We plan to make adjustments that will make both processes easier and clearer both for you, and for us.
We are planning a New Faculty Orientation for August the week before classes start. I think I mentioned in the Year in Review 2022-23 that we hired over 50 new fulltime faculty this year, so we’ll be looking for a big room. We are all really excited to welcome our new colleagues to campus.
And that’s all from me, apart from the picture of red fur. So cosy on a warm day.
Take care and I hope you are all enjoying the summer,
Suzanne
Suzanne Raitt
Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences
Chancellor Professor of English
Pronouns: she/her/hers
