March 31, 2023

Summary

Rain, flowers, spring, sunlight. That’s what has been happening outside my window. And what has been happening inside Ewell this week?

Full Description

Dear all,

Rain, flowers, spring, sunlight. That’s what has been happening outside my window. And what has been happening inside Ewell this week?

Our philanthropic advisory group, the Council of Arts & Sciences, met last Friday and Saturday in DC. It was a very animated meeting and the Council continues its generous support of Arts & Sciences, for which we are extremely grateful. I am also thankful to all those A&S faculty, staff and students who participated in making the meeting such a memorable experience. My nose is remembering it very well, since the nose was walked into a glass door which neither the nose nor I was expecting. The nose was very surprised and slightly annoyed. And lest you should think that the owner of my nose (which is me) is an unparalleled idiot, let me tell you that a member of our Council (who shall remain nameless) walked her brow into the same glass door about an hour after I did it (so she was warned). That brow is now bearing the marks of its experience. The takeaway here is that you should never buy a glass door. They are lethal. Alternatively, you should never walk anywhere because the problem with glass doors is that you can’t see them, so you will never know if you are about to walk into one. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
To console my nose, I took it to a concert given in Northern Virginia by a combined group of William & Mary students (the Symphony Orchestra) and the professional Virginia Chamber Orchestra, both conducted by David Grandis, one of our accomplished Music faculty members. My nose was greatly cheered up, and very humbled, by the amazing performances of the orchestra and of the winners of the W&M Concerto Competition, Sarah Russell-Hunter (violin) and Lydia Doughty (French horn). We have emerging stars in our midst and it was inspiring to both see and hear them.
Yesterday and today, almost 200 graduate and undergraduate students presented their research at the Graduate & Honors Research Symposium. I learned so much from these adventurous and accomplished minds: for example, if you’re in a stressful situation, stop and choose a de-stressing strategy before you start behaving like an acting-out Dean. You can pick distraction, re-appraisal or acceptance. It doesn’t matter which you pick: the key is to pick one. I will be sharing this insight with my teenage children, who will enjoy using it when they are told they can’t take the car to Las Vegas with my credit card. Congratulations to all you faculty and staff who supported these students in their voyages of discovery. They owe you so much, and they know it.
You know, hiring. Lots of it. Tiring, exciting, or should that be, exciting, tiring. I am either too tired or too excited to know.
On Monday April 3 at 5 pm, I am holding a town hall on the current state of play with the ToR Faculty Framework. I know you will have lots of questions, and I have some updates to share. Please come to https://cwm.zoom.us/j/98075014899.
Finally, here’s an update on the work of the CDSAS steering committee. We are about to circulate our second survey, which will include various options for future structures in A&S. We won’t be asking you to rank them, or to choose one. We’re interested in your reactions and analyses. What are the advantages or disadvantages of each one? Tell us what you think. There are so many variables that the possibilities are very numerous, and we’ve selected just a few for your feedback. Don’t assume that we have narrowed down the possibilities to these particular versions. You’ll see that features included in one could easily be incorporated in one of the others, if the feedback we get suggests that particular features evoke strong reactions for or against – or if one of you suggests a different model that we haven’t thought of. I should emphasize that the academic/intellectual vision precedes the model: the model is only important in so far as it allows us to realize that vision. We have a fairly good idea by now of the range of opinions on the academic/intellectual vision. Now we’re looking for thoughts on what you think about various models. If you favor none of them, you should say so.

And that’s it from the acting-up Dean. Have a great weekend,

Suzanne

Suzanne Raitt

Acting Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences

Chancellor Professor of English

Pronouns: she/her/hers