December 1, 2023

Dear all,

I hope you all enjoyed a productive and restful break last week. Nothing was pardoned at my house, so we spent the week in solemn reflection on all the reasons why that was. (Because we’re not turkeys, though perhaps some of us are). Look at the definitions attached, if you care.

A reminder that the last meeting of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences will be this coming Tuesday, December 5^th at 3:30. I will be joining on Zoom, since I will be out of town next week meeting with donors. Instead of a reception after that meeting, we will be hosting a welcome-back celebration at the beginning of next semester. Watch out for an invitation.
Searches for Vice-Dean of Arts, Humanities & Interdisciplinary Studies; Senior Associate Dean of Finance & Administration; and Executive Director of the Arts Quarter are nearing their conclusions. We hope to have the new Vice-Dean named within a couple of weeks or sooner, so they can overlap with outgoing Vice-Dean Janice Zeman. We may not be in a position to announce the new occupants of the other positions until the New Year, but we hope to have both in place as soon as possible.
The Year of the Arts continues with upcoming performances, exhibits, lectures, workshops and more. Be sure to keep an eye on the Arts at W&M calendar – and recommend your own arts-related events. Additionally, digital assets are now available for download, including the Year of the Arts mark, social media images, and even phone and Zoom backgrounds. You can help spread the word about W&M’s celebration of the arts!
The charge to the Future of Arts & Sciences coordinating committee is attached. I am delighted to announce that Matthias Leu (BIOL) and Hannah Rosen (History/AMST) have agreed to co-chair it. I am also grateful to other members of the committee who have accepted my invitation to participate. I am still fine-tuning the membership, but I will share it out shortly. The committee will start its work in January and I encourage you to interact with them early and often. Their primary task is to listen, so they’ll need something to listen to.
Four new or revamped professorship/fellowship opportunities were recently announced by the Provost’s Office: the Chancellor Professorship, the University Professorship for Teaching Excellence, the University Professorship for Research Excellence (a new one), and the Reveley Interdisciplinary Fellowship. Look out for a separate email with processes for nominations of A&S faculty. Deadlines are not until February.
Thank you to the Teaching Faculty Committee who have been working hard on developing criteria for merit, renewal, and promotion for our teaching faculty. You will be astonished to hear that this task turned out to be more complex than anticipated, and the TFC will be bringing some small revisions to the Teaching Faculty Framework to the Faculty of Arts & Sciences in the New Year. I know, you’ve already voted on it twice. But just think how much fun it will be to vote on it again.

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Today, I have been thinking about the cold (for obvious reasons). It reminds us of change, loss, our physicality, and the power of the world to hurt us. We did not need such a reminder, but it comes whether we needed it or not. As T.S. Eliot wrote: “When the short day is brightest, with frost and fire, | The brief sun flames the ice, on pond and ditches, | In windless cold that is the heart’s heat, | Reflecting in a watery mirror | A glare that is blindness in the early afternoon” (“Little Gidding”). I wish you all a warm and sunny weekend.

Take care, Suzanne

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