December 5, 2022
Summary
During this really eventful time of year, a great highlight for me was hosting at William & Mary the first in-person meeting of the Virginia Provosts Group on Friday. We launched this group in early spring 2020 to connect the provosts of Virginia’s public universities and discuss topics of mutual interest. It was also wonderful to see so many of you as we cheered for our student-athletes this weekend. Congratulations to the football team for a tremendous win, as they advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA FCS playoffs.
Full Description
During this really eventful time of year, a great highlight for me was hosting at William & Mary the first in-person meeting of the Virginia Provosts Group on Friday. We launched this group in early spring 2020 to connect the provosts of Virginia’s public universities and discuss topics of mutual interest. It was also wonderful to see so many of you as we cheered for our student-athletes this weekend. Congratulations to the football team for a tremendous win, as they advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA FCS playoffs.
Here are the Top 5 Things to Know this week:
- The Higher Education Equipment Trust Fund (HEETF) committee, composed of representatives from the schools, IT, Research, Swem Library and the Provost’s Office, completed its annual review of equipment requests. While the total requests exceeded the available funding, the committee recommended the purchase of $3.5 million in equipment during FY23, maximizing the available resources. I support the committee’s recommendation and am approving this allocation. Those who submitted requests for their units will receive notification from buyW&M on the final determination of each request. At that time, approved items should be obtained through the procurement process. I am glad that this investment in equipment enables us to make significant progress in instruction and research as well as provide critical IT infrastructure.
- The introduction of the new Interdisciplinary Research Innovation Fund: Focus on the Arts & Humanities offers potential funding opportunities for interested faculty. The goal of this fund is to provide collaboration opportunities between and/or within the arts and humanities and other disciplines like the social sciences and/or STEM. I look forward to seeing the collaborative work that comes from this new source of interdisciplinary funding for our faculty. Proposals should be submitted to provost@wm.edu by Friday, Feb. 17, 2023. If you have any questions, please reach out to Josh Burk, professor of psychological sciences and provost faculty fellow, at jabur2@wm.edu.
- As an important reminder, student educational records are protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) as well as additional confidentiality requirements in the case of ADA accommodations. Communications about the implementation of ADA accommodations are best conducted through direct correspondence. Please remember that accommodations, including the utilization of the testing center, should not be discussed in a public setting and should only be shared with others who have a need to know the information. The Registrar’s Office has created this FERPA tutorial, which is both a great introduction to and refresher on our obligations. Questions about the confidentiality of ADA accommodation information can be directed to Student Accessibility Services or the ADA coordinator.
- Applications for the W&M Libraries Undergraduate Library Research Awards are now open through Jan. 25, 2023. Students can submit work from courses they took in Spring 2022 or Fall 2022. Please let your eligible students know.
- The shout out for this week goes to the exceptionally strong Plumeri Awards applicant pool this year, with 50 applications for the Faculty Excellence award and five applicants for the Athletics Leadership award. Josh Burk convened a selection committee of former Plumeri Award recipients that selected 18 candidates to move on to interviews. I am very excited to meet with those selected for interviews this week and hear about their accomplishments in teaching and research.
