[VPAAEtal] Provost Update - 1/27/25

Academic Affairs vpaaetal at tamuc.edu
Mon Jan 27 13:18:35 CST 2025 

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Good afternoon, Academic Affairs!

The spring semester is now underway and I hope everyone is off to a positive start to the new year. As we begin 2025, I have a handful of updates:


  *   I am pleased that we are making excellent progress on the development of a Faculty Success Center at East Texas A&M, thanks to the hard work of Provost Fellows, Dr. Flavia Belpoliti and Dr. Brian Zator. As many of you are aware, this is something I feel strongly about, as this initiative aims to serve as a centralized hub for fostering the growth and success of all faculty across the institution. The Faculty Success Center will focus on key areas to directly support faculty, including teaching excellence and scholarship, as well as offering unique opportunities for professional development. By prioritizing these areas, the Center will become an inviting and comprehensive space that promotes collaboration, mentoring, and career advancement, ultimately supporting and celebrating the professional endeavors and achievements of ETAMU faculty members. Over the upcoming semester, the provost fellows will work closely with faculty senators, department heads, deans, and my office, to ensure the prioritization of needs, and ongoing plans for ensuring success. Feel free to contact either Flavia or Brian if you have any questions or would like to get involved.


  *   I am excited to share that the 2025-2026 Provost Fellowship is ready for those who are interested in submitting their applications to serve. I invite faculty to apply for this immersive leadership development opportunity aimed at enhancing competencies and fostering collaboration across the university. Provost Fellows dedicate 15-20 hours weekly in the Provost Office to lead initiatives aligned with institutional priorities such as student success, teaching excellence, and faculty wellness, while gaining hands-on experience with university administration. Benefits include executive coaching, shadowing university leaders, and leading a high-impact project. Fellowships are available for tenured faculty at the Associate or Full Professor rank. Applications are due on February 7, 2025, by 5:00 pm, with selected candidate interviews to follow. Please see the attached documents for the overview and application form, or contact one of the current fellows at Brian.Zator at tamuc.edu<mailto:Brian.Zator at tamuc.edu> or Flavia.Belpoliti at tamuc.edu<mailto:Flavia.Belpoliti at tamuc.edu> for more information.

  *   A quick update... I have discussed the need to review and address faculty salaries since I first walked onto this campus. It has been a multiple-year process, with several identified steps. The first being finding permanent funding that could be utilized for increasing faculty salaries. Thanks to your hard work, ensuring schedules and class offerings meet student needs while also being efficient, there is over $500,000 that I have set aside for this initiative. Although the exact amount is not yet available, I anticipate hearing from the budget office in the upcoming weeks. A second step that was needed was to implement a transparent, objective approach to a systematic review of current salaries, employing data from CUPA and market peers. With the help of the President and CFO, a consulting firm was engaged, and the results of their efforts are now becoming available. I have met with the President of the Faculty Senate, Dr. Yasmin Atinc, and Dr. Carrie Klypchak, the Budget Director for Faculty Senate, along with our consultant, to get an initial sense of the data and plan for the next steps. I anticipate that we will have the consultant on campus later in February or early March to meet with the Faculty Senate, and possibly, offer open meetings for faculty. As I have shared previously, there is a need to engage in thoughtful discussion as I ask for the Faculty Senate to provide overall recommendations on how to distribute the funds based on the current faculty data and available permanent funding. Make sure to stay in touch with your faculty senators. Much more to come!


  *   This semester I would like to work with our Student Government Association (SGA) on their commitment to expanding open educational resources (OER) at our institution. If you are interested in taking a leadership role in this project, or would like to be included as a member of the working group, please reach out directly to Cynthia Rhodes at Cynthia.Rhodes at tamuc.edu<mailto:Cynthia.Rhodes at tamuc.edu> sometime in the next two weeks.

  *   I want to thank Jim Curry, the Director of Athletics, Haley Major, the student-athlete success director, and the rest of the athletics team for their continuous collaboration with Academic Affairs. It is important for athletics and academics to collaborate so that these two essential aspects of our institution complement each other for our student-athletes. I would love to hear ideas from faculty and staff on how our two divisions may integrate further.

  *   I am delighted to share the results of the Honors College's inaugural Student Transformative Learning Award competition. Six students were awarded a total of $5,930 for their innovative research projects:
     *   Kamiah Long, Computer Information Systems
     *   Jahmad Banks, Psychology
     *   Mykah Gallaher, Wildlife & Conservation Science (Agriculture)
     *   Kilee Lasiter, Chemistry
     *   Vanessa Luviano, Wildlife & Conservation Science (Biology)
     *   Collin Callagher, Biological Science

It is always delightful to see our undergraduates (especially from multiple colleges) partaking in challenging and meaningful research agendas. Thank you to Dr. Webster Garrett and all the faculty reviewers for their hard work on this!


  *   There is no doubt that we have a busy semester ahead of us! Here's a list of currently active committees, all with tentative schedules to finish their work by the end of this semester:
     *    D2L Improvement (Basic Template): Lanee Dunlap (Chair)
     *   SB 25: Ricky Dobbs and Jennifer Schroeder (Co-Chairs)
     *   Development of Graduate Programs: Jennifer Schroeder (Chair)
     *   Development of Undergraduate Programs: Ray Green (Chair)
     *   Review of Class Schedules: Ricky Dobbs (Chair)
     *   Summer Pay Model: Joe Romero (Chair)
     *   Faculty Workload Policy: Ray Green (Chair)
     *   Tracking Class Attendance: Asli Ogunc (Chair)
     *   Review of Learning Platforms: Carrie Klypchak (Chair)

Each committee consists of faculty, faculty senators, and a department head; my thanks to all who have been willing to serve. For any questions, feel free to directly contact the chair of the committee. Although there will be numerous opportunities for input across our division, I know that committee chairs are always interested in hearing from you!


  *   I have office hours available on Tuesdays from 4-6 pm; but also by appointment for other days and times. This semester I am continuing to host Listening Lunches for faculty. This is a very informal meeting over the lunch hour, where my office provides lunch, and we have time to talk about what is on faculty members' minds- positives, concerns, questions about the future, etc. We tend to invite about 6-7 faculty members for each Listening Lunch so there is time for meaningful discussion and all to share. Please feel free to send me an email directly if you are interested in joining several of your colleagues and me for lunch. For my office hours, to sign up for a Listening Lunch, or to schedule a meeting with Dr. Ricky Dobbs or me, please reach out to Cynthia at Cynthia.Rhodes at tamuc.edu<mailto:Cynthia.Rhodes at tamuc.edu>.

I look forward to seeing all that we accomplish this year and I wish everyone a great spring semester!

tvh

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