End of year message from Dean Strikwerda
Dear Colleagues in Arts and Sciences:
Thank you all for a good semester of service, teaching, advising, and creative activity. The College of W&M succeeds due to the combined efforts of all members of our community. On occasion, we have the opportunity to recognize some of those community members, and so I want to announce several awards and note two transitions, as well as share some good development news.
Arts & Sciences Award for Faculty Governance
in recognition of distinguished service to Arts & Sciences:
- Eric Bradley, Applied Science and Biology
- Leisa Meyer, American Studies, History, and Women’s Studies
Jennifer and Devin Murphy Faculty Award
for integration of research into teaching:
- Sal Saporito, Sociology
Congratulations to these colleagues for their exemplary contributions. These awards were the result of nominations from faculty members, followed by advice to me from the Faculty Affairs Committee, and/or contact deans. Thank you to everyone who submitted nominations. I appreciate your taking the time to help your colleagues. Plumeri Fellows, Arts & Sciences Distinguished Associate Professorships, a Chancellor professorship, the Class of 2013 professorship, and a number of other awards and professorships will be announced in the spring semester.
Dean for Educational Policy: Professor Silvia Tandeciarz, Associate Professor of Modern Languages and Class of 2010 Professor, has done a marvelous job the past six months serving as Interim Dean for Educational Policy and contact dean for the arts and humanities. I appreciate her willingness to take on this role a great deal. Beginning in January, 2010, Teresa Longo, Associate Professor of Modern Languages, will become Dean for Educational Policy and contact dean for the arts and humanities. Please welcome Teresa as a member of the Arts & Sciences diaconal team.
Assistant to the Dean for Arts & Sciences: Betty Sandy is retiring this month after more than 47 years of service to the Commonwealth of Virginia, 37 of which have been with the College of William and Mary. She has spent 23 years as the Assistant to the Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences. It is humbling to realize that I am the 12th dean whom, as wise old hands at the College have said, Betty has kept an eye on. Thanks to Betty, no matter how tough the budgetary constraints have been, Arts & Sciences has always finished in the black, hundreds of personnel forms have been filed each year, and a multitude of crises large and small have been solved. We will miss her greatly, but we wish her a wonderful retirement. Thanks, too, to both Betty and Margaret Fonner for handling the transition this fall so smoothly.
Development News: Two especially noteworthy donations that we have received recently are a gift establishing the Sharp Writer-in-Residence and one creating the John McGlennon Scholarship Endowment for Government. The Sharp Writer-in-Residence, overseen by the Charles Center, will bring a journalist, biographer, or cultural commentator to campus each year to teach, lecture, advise students, and participate in a campus symposium. The McGlennon scholarships will support Government majors with excellent academic credentials who are participating in research with faculty or engaged in study abroad. The Scholarships recognize Prof. John McGlennon’s accomplishments as a scholar, teacher, and administrator. Both John McGlennon and Joel Schwartz, Director of the Charles Center, deserve our thanks for working with the Development staff and the alumni donors in order to make these gifts possible. More generally, I would like to thank the many faculty and staff members who have helped our development efforts by meeting with alumni, giving tours and presentations, sharing news about their departments and programs through websites, newsletters, and mailings, and working closely with the Development staff.
Thank you to faculty: Despite the continuing pressures of the budget crunch, and the dispiriting lack of salary increases, you have done a tremendous job this semester. We managed freshman enrollment and enrollment for second semester with very, very few problems. I appreciate the hard work that our Academic Advising staff and that the hundreds of you who serve as freshmen-sophomore advisors, as well as department chairs and scheduling officers, have done to make the Arts & Sciences experience for students run smoothly. Meanwhile, in addition to your deep commitment to both teaching and research, you have put in thousands of hours on departmental, Arts & Sciences, and College committees and in other forms of service. The new Arts & Sciences Awards for Faculty Governance are a small way to recognize the tremendous amount of service that you contribute to make the College of William and Mary the excellent institution it is.
Thank you to staff: As budget managers, administrative assistants, and technicians, you make a great contribution to the Faculty of Arts & Sciences and the College. Every week, I am reminded by some act, small or large, of how much the College depends on the staff to carry out its mission as an educational institution. I know that the on-going budget crunch has only made all of your jobs more challenging. Many of you go far beyond your job descriptions in order to help students, stretch our scarce dollars, and make the work of the College go more smoothly for everyone. That so many of you have stayed so dedicated to your departments or programs for so many years speaks volumes about your commitment to the institution. Please accept my heartfelt thanks on behalf of all of the faculty and administration in Arts & Sciences.
Best wishes for a well deserved holiday break to everyone!
Sincerely yours,
Carl Strikwerda
Dean
