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• Dean's Friday Messages

Dear Friends,

Welcome to the fall 2024 semester. I’m back in your inbox, wielding (gently) my first (rather long) Friday message of the semester. As we begin this busy and crucial time, especially for our first year and transfer students and our new faculty members (to whom, welcome!) I want to share some important updates and reminders.

Dean’s Office Principles and Initiatives

Over the summer, the A&S leadership team defined principles to guide our work, emphasizing transparency, mutual trust, and respect. We also set major operational goals for the next five years. Achieving these goals will require our collective effort, and I will keep you updated as we progress.

Save the Dates

• Convocation: You have all received an email from the Provost about Convocation, when we welcome our new students, this year on Wednesday, August 28 at 7:15 pm. I urge you to attend: it's a rite of passage for our students and now that we have it in the evening, it's atmospheric as well as moving. Please RSVP by noon on Monday, August 26.
• All-faculty meeting and Wren Yard party: You also heard about this. All W&M faculty are invited to the opening meeting of the academic year at 3:30 on Friday, August 30 in Tucker 127A (Tucker Theater). The meeting includes updates from the President, the Provost, all the Deans (sorry), and Faculty Assembly President David Feldman (ECON), followed by a party in the Wren Yard. Please come! RSVP by August 27.
• Arts & Sciences Welcome Back Party: Join us on September 3, from 5-7 p.m. (immediately following the first Faculty of Arts & Sciences meeting of the semester), in and around Ewell Hall for a celebration as we kick off the semester together!
• Insights from Within (IfW): Join us on September 24, 2024, 11:15-1:30 PM, in Tidewater AB, Sadler Center. One of four strategic initiatives for inclusive impact, Insights from Within (IfW) focuses Arts & Sciences inclusion efforts on internal conversations that reflect the broad experiences of Arts & Sciences students, staff, and faculty with sessions led by members of our community and/or alumni. This year, the theme of the event is Exploring Inclusive Leadership and will feature concurrent breakout sessions where participants will explore various aspects of inclusive leadership. Following the breakout sessions, student-athletes will share their experiences with inclusive leadership at the working lunch.

Communication Changes

Aligned with our principle of communication and responsiveness (see above):

• I’ll send weekly Friday messages with only the most important updates. Some will be longer, like this one, but I will strive to keep them brief.
• Starting in September, we’ll launch the Inside A&S monthly newsletter, which will include news, events and updates from across A&S. You can submit items for inclusion here.
• Vice deans will continue sending twice-monthly emails to chairs and program directors with information relevant to department and program administration.

• Professional Conduct & Engagement: Please bear in mind that your conduct, both online and in person, is closely observed by students, colleagues, and the broader community. There is no presumption of privacy in public settings, including remarks made and content typed on a laptop or messages sent via phone during lectures or meetings where others may be able to view your screen. As always, please be mindful that any university-related work conducted on any device or account may be subject to requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).  
• Social Media Policies & Guidelines: Please take time to review three helpful resources regarding social media and online engagement:
  • University Communications’ Policies & Guidelines
  • Media and Social Media Guidelines for Promoting Faculty Work
  • Personal Communications and Social Media Guidelines

• Being Present: I encourage you to be present in-person for your students whenever possible. Your presence and the connections made through direct conversation greatly contribute to their learning experience.
  
  I also encourage you to attend, in-person if you can, monthly meetings of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences, held on the first Tuesday of the month (unless otherwise specified) from 3-5:30 p.m. in Tucker Hall auditorium. This is an important forum which all A&S faculty members are expected to attend. 

• Changes to Medical Withdrawal Policy: William & Mary is making changes to its medical withdrawal policy as a result of collaborative conversations between A&S, the University Registrar, University Counsel and Student Success. The university will remove the "Medical Withdrawal" (WM) designation from the catalog. Instead, all withdrawals for medical reasons will be noted simply as "W" on transcripts, avoiding the need for students to disclose sensitive medical information.
  
  Additionally, the Medical Review Committee (MRC), a subcommittee of the Committee on Academic Status, which previously handled requests for medical withdrawals and reinstatements, will be dissolved. From now on, undergraduate students will follow one of two withdrawal processes:
  • Between Semesters and Up to the Withdrawal Deadline: Students submit a form to Academic Wellbeing to trigger the withdrawal process.
  • After the Withdrawal Deadline and Up to the Last Day of Classes: Students must petition the Committee on Academic Status for a full semester withdrawal.
    
    These changes aim to simplify the withdrawal process and protect student privacy. The dean's office and the OUAA are available to answer questions or assist students with these changes. The process for graduate students has not yet been finalized; the graduate deans will be meeting in September to discuss the process for their students.

• Policy Matters: The A&S policy matters message for Fall 2024 was sent with important reminders, including information on the academic calendar.
• Policies & Guidelines: This section of the A&S website has now been expanded into two libraries: policies and guidelines. The policies library includes the A&S by-laws, joint appointment policy, merit policy for faculty leaves, teaching faculty framework, etc. Under the guidelines tile, you will find instructions for course buyouts, faculty absences from campus, flexible merit, etc.
• Better Arguments Project: Many of you took part in the university-wide professional development days offered in August. Our colleagues in Student Success have long provided the Better Arguments Project framework and training to students. As we all learn these skills, it is an excellent opportunity for faculty engagement and connectivity. I encourage you to register to attend a Better Arguments workshop, being held Sept. 5, 10, 18 and 30, and look for opportunities to incorporate these tools into your teaching and as you engage with students.
• Arts at W&M: We're excited about the continued progress in the office of the arts. As Eric Despard works with his team and across arts disciplines, we're anticipating a stellar presented season alongside our outstanding student and faculty programming. With the latest phase of the Arts Quarter opening, the Muscarelle Museum of Art reopening soon, and the Year of the Arts continuing through December, the daily contributions of W&M arts students and faculty are in the spotlight.

• Open Inquiry Awards ($500) are available for faculty seeking to integrate 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.
  I look forward to a productive and exciting semester ahead with all of you.
  
  And now, for the hearty and hale among you, tread across the line (which, for the awareness of the uninitiated, I use to divide the serious updates from the un-serious.)

I could write some inspirational words here, about all the young life blooming around us (no, not our house  plants, the students) but instead I have decided to write to you about e-bikes. It seems more practical (though e-bikes are very heavy, and therefore in some ways quite impractical – you can’t store them up a wall in your small apartment, for example):

Where is it going? No-one knows. 

I rode an e-bike for the first time this summer, and although I had some trepidation (will it run away with me? will it drive up the wall before I get off it?), it turned out to be a blissful experience. A gentle slope ahead? No problem. A small hill? Again, no issue. A diminutive mountain? Piece of cake! And even Mount Everest, though I did not see it this summer? Surely my e-bike could have handled that.

Happy weekend, everyone.

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