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Hello Arts & Sciences Faculty and Staff,

I promised not to send another Friday message until the end of the summer, yet here I am again in your inbox. While summer may slow down a bit, and many of you are enjoying some well-deserved rest, there are still numerous updates and important items on which I write to provide updates. Hence, I break my own rule: no Friday messages in the summer.

• Teaching Faculty Framework – First, some excellent news: after a vote by the Faculty of Arts & Sciences, the latest version of the Teaching Faculty Framework was recently approved by the university’s Personnel Policy Committee with very minor adjustments. In the fall, we will work with chairs and program directors to determine how or if individual departments and programs implement the template TF personnel policy, also recently approved by the Personnel Policy Committee. So many people spent countless hours on this and there isn't space to thank everyone, but I do want to give a shout-out to the Teaching Faculty Committee, chaired by Jay Watkins (HIST), who did a totally phenomenal job.
• Search Authorizations – We are working hard on search authorization for the 2025-26 academic year, and will be communicating further updates in early July.
• Merit Policy – The Personnel Policy Committee also recently approved an updated policy on merit for faculty leaves.
  • Note: we are aware that it’s become difficult to keep track of the various policies and guidelines in Arts & Sciences and this summer are creating a structured web library of policies and guidelines. Thank you for your patience as we work to simplify and organize these important guiding documents.
  • Retirement – Earlier this semester, I sent information about a retirement incentive plan, but by mistake I attached the BOV resolution and not a slide show, which is much easier to follow. I've attached the slide show here for your information. The Provost's Office will also be rolling out a new version of the Faculty Voluntary Transition Program. They hope to announce both options in September. More details in the slide show attached.
  • Budget - Tarikul Islam's arrival as our new Senior Associate Dean for Finance & Administration, and the arrival of a new EVP (see below), make this an opportune time to conduct an analysis of the A&S budget, its opportunities and its challenges. We hope to find new ways to support everything we want to do and to say "yes" as often as we can, when you come to us with requet In this endeavor, we are being aided by our wonderful internal audit team, who have already helped us identify ways to improve the lives of our department and program administrative staff. Tarikul and I are also working to identify an external budget consultant who can help with this analysis.
  • Administrative Restructuring: The Working Group on A&S Administrative Restructuring chaired by Tarikul Islam, is about to hold its first meeting.  
  • New Executive Vice President – Last but certainly not least, I am delighted that Michael Todd will be joining the William & Mary community as Executive Vice President for Finance & Administration. I was enormously impressed with him at his interview. A remarkable and thoughtful leader, Mr. Todd will be a true partner and I look forward to working closely with him in the years to come. 

Happy summer, everyone.

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