March 22, 2024

I hope you all enjoyed a bit of rest during spring break. We are moving rapidly through the second half of the semester now. I went to Santa Fe this week (I know, poor me) to attend a training for new Deans, so now I am either new or no-longer new, depending on your perspective. But I am infinitely better at my job. You’ll see.

Back to my usual mischief, I have a lineup of updates for you this week and I ask for your attention for the approximately four minutes and thirty seconds I estimate it should take you to review this missive. (Of course, some of you are speed readers, and have already made it across the line by the time the rest of us are reading this sentence. I hope you put your additional four minutes and fifteen seconds to good use.)

• As you may be aware, William & Mary is entering a decennial review period with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). The review is mandatory (obviously) and I think we can all agree that W&M needs to be accredited, whatever we think of the process. One of the accreditation standards requires that we show evidence that we have official documentation of faculty credentials on file. New faculty hires since 2012 have all received this instruction: “Please arrange for an original transcript through your degree-granting university using your school’s official third-party e-transcript service sent to kpmorg@wm.edu to verify your highest earned degree.” Faculty hired before 2012 did not receive this instruction, and thus some of you received notification this week that your transcript is not on file. If you received this notification, please begin the process and submit your transcript no later than May 1, 2024. We understand this is an inconvenience and a modest expense (between $2 and $10 is what I’m seeing). However, it is necessary for the decennial review process. I am grateful to everyone who has already supplied their transcript.
• I must note here that a few of you took out your frustration with this process in your email responses to the staff members who sent out the notifications. They are simply doing their job in assembling the materials needed for a successful accreditation. The tone of some of these emails was insulting and unprofessional. I understand the frustration: I don't understand the decision to express it in this way. Please think about the impact and effect of this kind of message before you send it, and remember that we are all professionals engaged in a shared endeavor. We owe each other respect and courtesy in all our exchanges, no matter how we are feeling.
• A reminder that midterm grades are due by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, March 24. Students can withdraw until Monday, March 25. Please submit your midterm grades as soon as possible so that students will have time to consider their options. As you know, mid-term grades can be vital for student success, serving as an advanced warning system for struggling students.
• Beginning next week, all students, including graduate students, will register for courses via the PATH registration system. While there will be an adjustment period as with any new system, PATH will greatly improve the experience of registration for students, faculty and staff. Between March 27 and April 2, undergraduate students will build their fall schedules in a registration cart, with opportunities to prioritize options and select alternative courses. Carts will then close, and students' registration will be processed. Schedules will become available to students on April 15, and add/drop will begin in PATH on April 18. Additionally, the university is implementing an automated waitlist for undergraduate Arts & Sciences courses (already in use for law courses) and is disabling max-capacity overrides. Detailed information about PATH, including a timeline, how-to guides, and a schedule of help sessions are now available on the University Registrar PATH webpage.
• Open Inquiry Awards (now $500 up from $300) are available for faculty seeking to center diverse experiences or perspectives (e.g., via internal or external guest speakers, instructor attendance to pedagogical conferences, site visits, or other creative integrations) for any non-COLL course. Apply here. One way to take advantage of an Open Inquiry award is to engage guest speaker(s) in-person or virtually. Guest speakers could include:
  • Individuals with affinities represented in your academic community or beyond to include local communities.
  • Alumni guests from one of the nine affinity groups for alumni.
  • Individuals internal to W&M who can speak to diverse experiences and perspectives (lived experiences and/or scholarly work) in ways that enhance the learning outcomes of your students. Two internal resources of interest include the American Indian Resource Center and the Office of William & Mary Military & Veteran Affairs.
  • Scholars whose work speaks to diverse experiences and perspectives including authors already assigned as part of your course readings.
• On Tuesday, March 26, we celebrate W&M’s annual day of giving, One Tribe One Day. This is an important day for our community, and I encourage you to consider giving back and engaging in the celebrations throughout the day. Some highlights include:
  • More than 20 challenges throughout the day.
  • Events and games including Battle of the Brains: Students vs. Deans at 12pm in Commonwealth Auditorium. (I’m brushing up on my W&M trivia but battling it out with our brilliant students is a tall order.)
  • Social media highlights: Download suggested social media images, check out suggested posts, and share your content! All publicly posted content on Twitter/X and Instagram using the #OneTribeOneDay hashtag is aggregated on the Get Involved page.
• A workshop on Strengthening W&M’s Presence in Fulbright Programs is scheduled for Tuesday, March 26th from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm in the Grimsley Board Room, Blow 201. Fulbright provides a range of programs as the United States government’s flagship international educational and cultural exchange program. The panelists include Emily Bailey, Nick Balascio, Pamela Eddy, and Dawn Edmiston, who have all done a Fulbright during their time at W&M (view list of all past Fulbright Faculty Award Recipients). More information on applying to the Fulbright Program is found here.

Babies talking (some of you have the expertise to know what's going on here):

https://youtu.be/_JmA2ClUvUY?si=281Fu6QtvEm1cwqo

And finally, all you with the standing desks:

Have a good weekend, everyone.

best wishes, Suzanne