Faculty Member Honored with Governance Award
The Arts & Sciences Award for Faculty Governance honors faculty members who devote special efforts to helping their colleagues through committee memberships and other services to departments, programs, Arts & Sciences, and William & Mary.
Marc Sher
Written by David Armstrong, Chancellor Professor of Physics, on behalf of the Physics Personnel Committee
The Physics Personnel Committee would like to nominate Professor Marc Sher for the Arts & Sciences Faculty Governance Award. Throughout his 34 years of service on the faculty, Marc has diligently and effectively served William & Mary at every level: departmental, A&S, and university wide. He is always willing to contribute, and to lead when asked. He has a gift in committee work for cutting to the heart of any matter, and being able to suggest a practical and appropriate course of action. He always seems to keep at the forefront of his thoughts the impact of any decision or policy on students, faculty, and staff.
At the departmental level he has served on almost every one of our standing committees, and numerous ad hoc committees, including several faculty search committees. Perhaps most visibly, he served as Chair of our Graduate Admissions Committee for a total of 17 years. The doctoral program is central to the mission of the physics department, and ensuring the strongest possible entering class is critical for the graduate program. Marc always did a wonderful job with this. His affable, unpretentious and candid style, especially evident when meeting with prospective graduate students, has been crucial in convincing many students to select our program over others to which they have been offered admission.
Marc has served four years on the Retention, Promotion and Tenure committee, two different three-year terms on Faculty Assembly, a term on the A&S Faculty Affairs Committee, and three years on the Educational Policy Committee. Perhaps most notable are his contributions to the Committee on Academic Status, as he has served on that committee for over a dozen years, in different stints, and several times as committee Chair. It should also be noted that Marc has served as a pre-major advisor essentially continuously since 1989, as well as concentration advisor to many of our physics majors. Marc is unfailingly generous with providing time for his colleagues and his students to provide counsel, support and encouragement.
In summary, Professor Marc Sher has been a valued and enthusiastic participant in service to his department, to Arts & Sciences, to the university as a whole, and an active contributor to shared governance here at William and Mary.
