January 2023

Note from the Dean

Happy 2023, Colleagues!

We hope that your winter break has been warm and restful and that preparation for Winter term is well underway.

Just a reminder that according to the Faculty Handbook, apart from absences for observance of religious holidays, faculty may set their own attendance policies and have discretion to designate absences for other reasons as "excused" or "unexcused" based upon their professional judgement." (Revised policy approved by the faculty January 7, 2019) A representative list of holy days for the 2022-23 academic year from several major traditions can be found here through Human Resources. As we discussed at the College Faculty Meeting in November, please also be mindful of the evening and weekend practice and performance constraints of our students who are involved in the performing arts and in NCAA athletics. Pre-planning for required events helps students prioritize their commitments and allows for maximum flexibility of our faculty colleagues whose teaching can be impacted by other courses that have required activities in the afternoons, evenings, and on weekends. Thanks for your consideration.

Winter term flies by more quickly than Fall in the Dean's Office. But we are always happy for opportunities to slow down and savor moments in fellowship with you all: faculty, staff, and students. Please reach out for a meetup. The coffee pot is always on.

Best wishes,

The College is happy to announce the Winter portion of the Nobel Symposium, organized by Natalia Toporikova. This symposium celebrates last year's greatest achievements in science and humanities. Special thanks to our presenters, Erich Uffelman, Rich Bidlack, and Nadia Ayoub who will help us to celebrate last year's Nobel Prizes in Chemistry, Peace, and Physiology and Medicine.

All talks are in the atrium of The Harte Center for Teaching and Learning early in the afternoon (see times below) with refreshments provided. The talks are highly interactive with 20 minutes for the talk and plenty of time after for questions and discussion.

Hope you can join us!

Erich Uffelman, Bentley Professor of Chemistry, will discuss the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

This prize was awarded jointly to Carolyn R. Bertozzi, Morten Meldal and K. Barry Sharpless "for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry."

January 25, 2023, 12:15pm - 1:15pm - Harte Center 128

Rich Bidlack, Martin and Brooke Stein Professor of History, will discuss the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize

The 2022 Peace Prize was awarded to human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organization Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties. The Peace Prize laureates represent civil society in their home countries. They have for many years promoted the right to criticize power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens. They have made an outstanding effort to document war crimes, human right abuses and the abuse of power. Together they demonstrate the significance of civil society for peace and democracy.

February 1, 2023, 12:15 – 1:15pm - Harte Center 128

Nadia Ayoub, Professor of Biology, will discuss the 2022 Nobel Prize Physiology or Medicine

The prize was awarded to Svante Pääbo "for his discoveries concerning the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution."

February 8, 2023, 12:15 – 1:15pm - Harte Center 128

It's that time of the year again!

Hello there! Friendly reminder that Faculty Activity Reports (FAR or FAR-PEA) along with your updated CV are due no later than Monday, January 9, 2023.

Please make sure to submit them on time. Email them to FARS-College@wlu.edu thank you!

Summer Lenfest Summer Research Grant proposals are due January 27, 2023

The application deadline for a 2023 summer Lenfest Grant is January 27, 2023.

Full-time tenure and tenure-track faculty are eligible for funding through this program. Current full-time visitors who have been here at least one year, and who have a school/institutional commitment for continued full-time employment for at least one year beyond the grant period, may apply for a Lenfest Grant. More info here.

ACS 2023 Facilitating Challenging Conversations Faculty Cohort

In these politically polarized times, faculty in every field face the possibility that class discussions will elicit strong emotions and opinions or fall into uncomfortable silences. In an attempt to better prepare ourselves to lead productive and inclusive conversations around challenging or controversial topics, we invite applications to participate in the ACS 2023 Facilitating Challenging Conversations Faculty Cohort.

This opportunity, sponsored by the Associated Colleges of the South and underwritten by the Mellon Foundation, will consist of eighteen participants, six each from three universities: Hendrix College, the University of Richmond, and Washington and Lee University. Applications are welcome from continuing full-time faculty in all disciplines and subject areas teaching during the 2023-24 academic year.

The program will involve three virtual, 2-hour training meetings (required) during the late Spring and Summer (dates TBD), a few summer check-in meetings, and will culminate in a face-to-face session at the University of Richmond in September 2023 (all costs will be covered by the grant) where participants will share ideas. While participants can anticipate some light work between meetings, they can assume this work will be not interfere with their research and other summer engagements.

The goals of the program will be to assist participants in:

developing a pedagogical dossier that includes both short-term practices and long-term strategies for addressing complicated material in the classroom.
becoming ambassadors for these practices on their own campuses for developing productive practices in leading difficult conversations.

At the conclusion of the program, participants will be asked to submit a brief dossier describing their strategies. Throughout the program, our work will be supported by nationally recognized experts on leading difficult conversations, reconciliation, and change management.

Applications are due by midnight on February 6, 2023.

Participants will be selected by the organizing committee on the basis of interest, potential of future application, and expressed need. Participants will be selected by the organizing committee also with an eye to maximizing diversity (disciplinary perspectives, professorial ranks, ethnicity and political ideology) across the cohort as a whole. In the event that there are more applicants than places, preference will be given to applicants who have not participated in an ACS professional development event in the past two years. You may link to the application here.

Questions? Queries? Please feel free to contact Paul Hanstedt (phanstedt@wlu.edu).

Do you work with or know some amazing people at W&L?

Do you know someone who's accomplishing great things? Take the time to show them your appreciation by submitting their name and info to The Office of Communications and Public Affairs. If selected, the person may be featured in the Employee Accolades portion of The Columns Weekly newsletter. W&L is filled with amazing people, let's tell each other all about them!