Provost's Newsletter - February 2022

Dear Colleagues,

The spring faculty meeting was such a great opportunity for President Livingstone and me to give a big shout-out to you - the faculty and staff whose excellent work was essential for us to be categorized as among the highest research universities in the US by the Carnegie Foundation. In case you missed the meeting, here’s the video.

Notice that the video marks 2012 as a significant year for articulating a view of Baylor as a Christian university reaching for the highest levels of scholarly impact. Many of our faculty and staff have been working for decades to lay the groundwork for the achievement we are celebrating today. Reaching this milestone is incredibly important for the identity of the university - in terms of how we view ourselves as well as how we are viewed by others. Our historic strength in the humanities, our remarkable successes in the social sciences, our rising reputation in the sciences and engineering, and our commitment to the professions as a significant part of our Christian mission have all contributed in important ways to our overall research portfolio. Key to our success is the work of our faculty. It is their collective success that we celebrate.

We must also remember the work of our staff. Many of them have played a key role supporting our research labs, acquiring library resources, and developing an infrastructure to support external funding. These can be very challenging jobs, particularly in a time of tremendous change. Professionals in the Office of the Vice Provost for Research are charged with navigating a complex and dynamic set of compliance requirements, particularly regarding federal agencies. In the coming months, OVPR staff will be working to implement improvements in our existing effort certification, Conflict of Interest (COI), and Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) training processes.  It is important that we work with them as colleagues so we can be confident that Baylor’s performance reflects that of a Christian research university.

I am looking forward to this next phase of Baylor University. I can hardly wait to see what you do next as you continue to develop research programs and work with graduate students in ways that elevate Baylor’s impact on the world.

Nancy Brickhouse

Covid Updates

• Update on Student-Athlete COVID-19 Protocols
  If you are a faculty member teaching student-athletes in your courses this spring, please click the link above to review important updates from Vice Provost Null and Dr. Carson Mencken, Faculty Athletics Representative. Thank you!
• Baylor Employee Mental Health Resources
  We know it has been a challenging season for our faculty and staff. We are incredibly grateful for everyone’s persistence and patience during this period and the way you are supporting our students. There are numerous resources available to support your mental health—please click the link above to learn more.

Vice Provosts' Corner

Nominations for Vice Provost for Faculty Diversity and Belonging

• Baylor University is searching for an internal candidate to serve as the Vice Provost for Faculty Diversity and Belonging. Starting immediately and running until February 18, 2022, the Provost’s office encourages nominations (including self-nominations) for this position. Nominations should be sent to the search committee through vp_nominations@baylor.edu.

Vice Provost for Global Engagement

• International students can be referred to the International Student Academic Support (ISAS) office for academic or English-language support. For students of concern, faculty can submit an alert in Navigate using the ‘International Student Needs Academic Support’ reason.

Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education

• Progress Reports
  Faculty, please remember to turn in progress reports for any student who might be falling behind in your class. More information and instructions on how to submit a progress report for a student via Navigate are linked above.
• Excellent News on Fall-to-Spring Retention
  Our fall-to-spring retention numbers are overall much higher than last year at the same time. In fact, for first-time freshmen from the fall 2021 cohort, the preliminary fall-to-spring retention rate is 96.7% compared to 96.0% with the fall 2020 cohort. Thank you for all of the ways you engage students inside and outside of the classroom.
• Reminder about Honor Code Violation Reporting
  This is just a quick reminder that all Honor Code violations must be reported to the Office of Academic Integrity. Violations must be submitted using the university’s online Honor Code Reporting Form. We ask that all submitted violations include evidence to support the reported violation (the above form includes a prompt to submit evidence). For questions, please contact Linda Cates, Director of the Office of Academic Integrity, at Linda_Cates@baylor.edu or 254 710-1715.
• Success Center Spotlight
  Send students to the Learning Lab! The Learning Lab, located in the west wing basement of Sid Richardson in the Center for Academic Success & Engagement (CASE), offers free walk-in assistance Monday through Thursday from 1 to 4 p.m. for students who could use help managing their coursework.
• Upcoming Events from the Academy for Teaching and Learning
  The Academy for Teaching and Learning regularly hosts a series of one-hour Seminars for Excellence in Teaching (SET) to help colleagues meet the expectations of excellence in teaching at Baylor. Please click the link above to learn more and sign up.
• Instructional Support Available
  In addition, the Academy for Teaching and Learning is available to support faculty and graduate student instructors through consultations and teaching observations. If you would like help redesigning a course, refining course objectives, creating meaningful assignments, improving student engagement, constructing a teaching development plan, or with other teaching-related activities, email atl@baylor.edu.

Vice Provost for Administration and Operations

• Michelle Johnson Appointed New Registrar
  The Office of the Provost is pleased to announce that a new Registrar has been appointed for Baylor University. Michelle Johnson will be joining Baylor after more than 15 years at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California, where she was the Associate Vice President & University Registrar.

Events

Readers Meet the Author

March 3, 3:00-4:30 p.m., Online

The sixth installment of our "Readers Meet the Author" series will spotlight the scholarly work of Baylor faculty member Joel Looper, Ph.D., Adjunct Faculty for the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core, who has authored Bonhoeffer's America: A Land Without Reformation.

Readers Meet the Author Submissions for 2022-2023
If you have written a broad-appeal single-author book in the last year, would you like to be a part of the 2022-2023 “Reader’s Meet the Author” series? Please email your submissions to the Provost’s Chief of Staff, Dr. Kristina Campos-Davis, at kristina_campos@baylor.edu.

Spring Faculty Meeting

Did you miss the Spring Faculty Meeting? Not a worry! All faculty meetings are recorded and available for viewing online.

Faculty Meeting Poll
Did you like having an online meeting? Would you prefer in-person or the virtual option? We’d love your feedback—please take our online poll to share your thoughts.

Organizational Change In An Age of Covid-19 and Social Unrest

February 22, 5:30 p.m., Bennett Auditorium

Dr. Mia Moody-Ramirez will be giving a lecture as the recipient of the 2021 Cornelia Marschall Smith Award. The lecture is open to all faculty, staff, and students. Learn more by viewing the event on the Baylor University calendar.

Important Academic Deadlines

Additional deadlines are available on the Academic Units Deadlines calendar.

• January 15 to February 15 — Annual reviews commence with meetings between chairs (or deans in single-department schools) and faculty.
• February 15 — Negative Clinical Associate Faculty promotion to rank of Clinical Professor appeal deadline.
• February 15-28 — Previous year’s candidate(s) for promotion to full Professor will be informed by dean or dean’s designee of promotion decision.
• February 15 — Meeting among Clinical Assistant Professor, chair, and available tenured faculty, Clinical Associate Professors, and Clinical Professors in the department (regarding promotion to full Professor candidates).
• February 15 — Letters of intent to apply for promotion to full professor are due to department chair (Policy BU-PP 702 - Promotion for Tenured Faculty).
• February 15 — Annual faculty performance reviews due to dean.
• March 1 — Presidential letter signed to Regular Lecturer (Senior Lecturer Review).
• March 1 — Presidential letter signed, and decision communicated to the Dean (Clinical Assistant Professor appointment to the rank of Clinical Associate Professor). Provost will communicate decision to Dean. Dean or Dean’s designee will meet with Clinical Assistant Professor to inform him or her of the Clinical Associate decision and will personally deliver the letter from the President.
• March 7 — Deadline for chairs (or deans in single-department schools) to enter final ratings in Ignite.
• March 15 — Deadline for deans to submit copies of annual faculty performance evaluation forms to Provost (evaluations may be uploaded in BOX or scanned and emailed to the office manager in the provost office—please ensure that you assign the Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs as a co-owner in BOX).

Spotlight on the Academy

Diana R. Garland School of Social Work

• Reflecting on Racism, hosted by BU External Relations
  Join a 7-week virtual discussion of the “Seeing White” podcast series starting this week on Wednesdays or Fridays, 12 – 1 p.m. “Seeing White” takes a deep dive into the history of institutional racism in America and fills in gaps left by American history books. Register today.

George W. Truett Theological Seminary

• University colleagues, please join the Truett Seminary family as we celebrate the 20th Anniversary of our Baugh-Reynolds campus on 2/22/22. Learn more and register at baylor.edu/truett/campus20.

Mayborn Museum

• The Bryce C. Brown Research Fellowship Program has two fellowships available for Baylor faculty members and graduate students for Summer 2022. Application materials are due March 18, 2022.