08-02-06 to Faculty and Staff

Dear Colleagues:

Greetings as we begin the 2008 Spring Semester. I look forward to visiting every department in the next few weeks. Preceding my visits let me use this letter to highlight a few issues, announcements and achievements by several faculty and staff.

With newly appointed President Elsa Murano, I expect a busy spring semester as she completes recruiting several senior administrative officers and as university priorities take form. Like you, I am very pleased that President Murano has highlighted the continuing importance of Vision 2020 for Texas A&M University and that Vision 2020 will be a touchstone in planning future initiatives. At various times this coming year, I expect that we will have opportunities to discuss the outstanding achievements of faculty, staff, and students in making presentations to President Murano and her new administration. We will use these opportunities to argue that a highly successful College of Liberal Arts is absolutely essential if Texas A&M is to achieve its dream of being considered one of the country’s top public research universities. An established, successful, and well supported college of liberal arts is, after all, one of the cornerstones of any great university.

Issues

As I reported previously, the college continues to encourage and to support efforts enhancing undergraduate education. Given that we are responsible for nearly one-third of the undergraduate instruction that takes place at Texas A&M, this initiative is no small task. Departments have been dedicated and creative in strengthening undergraduate programs and have reported achievements in these areas through the Indicators of Success measures that we collect annually. The most recent set of departmental indicators show many initiatives by departments to strengthen undergraduate programs, and we recognized those efforts when determining merit pool allocations.

The college has received approval for a Bachelor of Arts in University Studies. Students now have the opportunity to develop an interdisciplinary degree that draws on the college’s academic strengths in race, gender, and ethnicity. This degree will require students to develop a degree plan that includes 24 hours of course work in the focus area of race, gender, and ethnicity, with additional course work in two cognate minors.

The Vision 2020 Assessment Committee has also completed a report that has been widely circulated and well received in the university. As we make plans for the next five –eight years and as the university looks to progress toward Vision 2020 goals, this assessment will offer important guideposts for the college.

This past year we have undertaken several initiatives aimed at recognizing and supporting high achieving faculty. With a generous gift from Ray Rothrock ’77, we created Rothrock Faculty Fellowships to be awarded to newly promoted associate professors showing exceptional achievements as assistant professors and great promise for the future. As recommended by the Dean’s Advisory Committee, four faculty members were named Rothrock Fellows this past year. Awards for 2008 will be announced later in the Spring Semester.

After considerable consultation with the Advisory Committee for Endowed Chairs, Professorships, and Fellowships, the Liberal Arts Council, and the Executive Council, we have also created Cornerstone Faculty Fellowships for high achieving senior faculty. Faculty receiving these awards will have notable achievements in each of three areas -- research or creative work, teaching, and service. Go here for a full description of these fellowships and the process for selecting faculty to be honored with these awards.

Coinciding with discussions about the Cornerstone Faculty Fellowships, we also adopted a new set of expectations for recipients of endowed positions. Outlining standards for awarding endowed chairs and professorships, these expectations highlight the importance of high impact achievements by senior faculty as discipline-leading scholars or creative artists, as widely recognized model teachers and mentors, and as contributing members to their discipline and the university community. Faculty members receiving these awards based on outstanding successes in each of these areas are expected to continue making contributions that set the pace for all of us in the college.

We continue to make progress with development of interdisciplinary programs. For the 2007-2008 academic year, six faculty members with joint appointments involving departments and interdisciplinary programs were made. Currently, five searches are underway for another round of interdisciplinary hires. By-laws for interdisciplinary programs have been approved, and we have begun providing base budgetary support for departments and interdisciplinary programs to support this initiative. I anticipate that we will continue to make jointly appointed interdisciplinary hires as the college receives additional faculty lines associated with our expanded enrollment.

Announcements

Pending due dates for program or project proposals

1. Liberal Arts Faculty Research Enhancement Program – due early March* (contact: Martha Salsgiver, 845-2141, msalsgiver@tamu.edu)
2. Summer Institute for Instructional Technology Innovation – due March 21^st (contact: Steve Balfour, 845-5165, balfour@tamu.edu)

The college welcomed 24 new faculty members this year. You may have met many of them at our Fall Reception program held in September. As I have had to good fortune of saying for the past five years, these faculty members bring impressive records of accomplishment and we look forward to their continuing success.

The college also welcomed a new slate of leaders as department heads, interdisciplinary program directors, center director, and director of our new Arabic and Asian Language Office. You may have seen the list and their photos in our Fall Reception program, or on our college website at http://clla.tamu.edu/spotlights/new-appointments.

Four new department heads:

• Anthropology ‑ Donny Hamilton, professor of anthropology
• Economics ‑ Yoosoon Chang, professor of economics
• English ‑ Jimmie Killingsworth, professor of English
• Philosophy ‑ Daniel Conway, professor of philosophy

Department head reappointments:

• History ‑ Walter Buenger, professor of history
• Political Science ‑ Patricia Hurley, professor of political science
• Communication ‑ Rick Street, professor of communication

Six new interdisciplinary program directors:

• Africana Studies ‑ Kimberly Brown, associate professor of English
• Asian Studies ‑ Dudley Poston, professor of sociology
• Film Studies ‑ Anne Morey, associate professor of English
• International Studies ‑ Michael Greenwald, professor in theatre arts
• Religious Studies (interim) ‑ Bruce Dickson, professor of anthropology

Center/AALO/Program appointments and reappointments:

• Arabic and Asian Language Office (AALO) ‑ Salah Ayari appointed director and instructor
• Center for Maritime Archaeology and Conservation (CMAC) – Kevin Crisman, associate professor of anthropology, appointed director
• Digital Humanities program – Eduardo Urbina, professor of Hispanic studies, appointed director
• Mexican American and U.S. Latino Research Center (MALRC) ‑ Edward Murguia, associate professor of sociology, reappointed as director
• Digital Humanities – James G. Smith appointed lead digital humanities programmer

Congratulations

National Awards/Honors announced fall 2007:

National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships
Lauren Clay, assistant professor of history
Leor Halevi, assistant professor of history
Jan Swearingen, professor of English

Visiting Fellow, Institute for Latino Studies, University of Notre Dame
Armando Alonzo, associate professor of history

Lifetime Achievement Award, American Psychological Association
Ludy T. Benjamin, Jr., professor of psychology

John “Sam" Keltner Memorial Top Student Paper, National Communication Association
Greg Paul, master’s graduate student, communication

Albert Hourani Book Award, Middle East Studies Association
Leor Halevi, assistant professor of history

Fellow, Forest History Society
Thomas Dunlap, professor of history

Other awards/honors of note from fall 2007:

President’s Award for Undergraduate Advising
Laura Stratta, international studies
Nancy Street, communication

Association of Former Students College Level Teaching Awards
Valeria Balester, associate professor of English
Marian Eide, associate professor of English
Andrew Kirkendall, associate professor of history
Antonio LaPastina, associate professor of communication

College of Liberal Arts Research Awards
Kim Hill, professor of political science
Walter Kamphoefner, professor of history

2007 College of Liberal Arts Superior Service (CLASS) Awards
Rosalie E. Glenn, department of philosophy & humanities
J. Roy Mitchell, office of the dean
Barbara D. Newsom, department of English

Department of Anthropology (Team Award)
Cynthia Y. Hurt, administrative assistant
Rebekah K. Luza, business coordinator
Milissa L. Kennedy, academic advisor
Leslie A. Riley, office assistant

Best wishes for the 2008 spring semester,

Charles A. Johnson
Dean
Professor of Political Science