Dear Colleagues,

Welcome back to a new semester! I hope that you found the Christmas holiday season to be one of rest and rejuvenation.

I want to share a few highlights from the November 2022 Board of Regents meeting.

• We discussed the University’s new Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) Plan.
• We reflected on the growth of new graduate programs and our desire to expand the University’s offerings.

A typical R1 university tends to have about 60% undergraduate students and 40% graduate students. Baylor University currently has 74% undergraduate students and 26% graduate students. We have room to grow and are excited about those possibilities for the future.

Baylor compared to other US News-ranked 51-100 Private R1 Institutions

We are proud of the development of our longtime and new graduate programs as well. Currently, our doctoral programs with 100% student satisfaction rates are:

In the past five years, our Graduate Professional Education (GPE) programs have grown from an enrollment of 1,602 to 4,233. The chart below gives a picture of where our most significant growth has occurred.

Largest Graduate Professional Education Programs

As we move through the spring semester, consider how your unit might grow some of its graduate programs, and be in touch with your chair or dean with proposals. Outlines for new graduate degrees are available through the Graduate School and the Professional Education office. I look forward to reviewing your submissions.

In the meantime, I hope you have a wonderful start to the spring semester.

All the best,

Nancy Brickhouse

Reminder: Outstanding Faculty Awards

Deans and department chairs, remember that all Outstanding Faculty nominations are due to the Selection Committee for Outstanding Professors by February 27. More instructions for submissions are available here.

COACHE Update

The Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE) faculty job satisfaction survey, taken in 2020, was an important first step for Baylor faculty. Since then, the Office of the Provost has started taking steps recommended by the COACHE working groups. Please click here for updates on actions taken and information from Dr. Lenore Wright and Dr. Jason MacGregor, COACHE co-chairs.

Annual Faculty Performance Reviews

The annual faculty performance review process will begin in mid-January. You will find pertinent dates and deadlines on the provost’s website. Further information regarding the review process and instructions for entering the ratings in Ignite are available here.

Vice Provost’s Corner

Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and Institutional Effectiveness

Announcements from the Academy for Teaching & Learning (ATL)

• Mark your calendars for the first spring Provost’s Faculty Forum, Tuesday, January 31, 3-4 pm. Join Baylor Fellows Lakia Scott, Kristi Humphreys, and Andrea Shepherd as they discuss their approach to this year’s Baylor Fellows theme, “Teaching for First Generation Success.”
• Upcoming Seminar for Excellence in Teaching: “How to Leverage Our Brains to Maximize Learning.” Presenter: Ben Schwartz (Psychology and Neuroscience). Thursday, February 2, 4:00 pm. Register here.
• There’s still time to sign up for a spring STEM Educational Research Journal Club. Choose from groups focused on Lab and Grad Student Instructors, the Undergraduate Classroom, Assessment, and more! Learn more here.
• Join the ATL at a premier teaching and learning conference in our backyard in Austin, the Lilly Conference on Evidence-Based Teaching and Learning, May 22-24. The call for proposals closes on February 17. More information at www.lillyconferences-tx.com. Group discounts are available. Contact the ATL (atl@baylor.edu) if you are interested.
• Want to learn more about ATL services and resources? Invite us to a departmental meeting for a brief overview of how the ATL can support faculty development. Contact atl@baylor.edu.

Important Academic Dates

Additional deadlines are available on the Academic Units Deadlines calendar.

• January 12- In early January, the University Tenure Committee deliberates and sends tenure recommendations and all other materials to the provost.
• January 13- Faculty begin submitting Planning for the Year Ahead documents to chairs for annual performance review; chairs to begin meeting with each faculty member regarding performance reviews.
• January 16- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day (University holiday).
• January 17- First day of classes.
• January 17- Deadline for third-year clinical assistant professors to turn in notebooks for review by available tenured faculty, clinical associate professors, and clinical professors within their department.
• January 17- Deadline for chairs to provide colleague evaluation forms to the available tenured faculty, clinical associate professors, and clinical professors and to schedule departmental reviews for third-year clinical assistant professors.
• January 17- Deadline for second- and fourth-year regular lecturers to turn in notebooks for review by available tenured faculty and senior lecturers within their department.
• January 17- Deadline for chairs to provide colleague evaluation forms to the available tenured faculty and senior lecturers and to schedule departmental reviews for second-  and fourth-year regular lecturers.
• January 17- Dean recommendations on whether to appoint sixth-year regular lecturers to the rank of senior lecturer due to provost.
• January 17- Tenure notebooks and annual reports from fourth-year tenure-track faculty members due to the department chair or dean.
• January 17- Deadline for department chairs to provide colleague evaluation forms and to schedule review meetings for fourth-year tenure-track faculty members.
• January 31- Deadline for faculty to submit their intent to retire to take advantage of the Faculty Retirement Planning Program to their chair or dean. 
• February 1- The provost makes recommendations to the president about promotion to full professor decisions.
• February 1- Favorable clinical associate professor promotion to the rank of clinical professor recommendations and all supporting documentation due to dean from the department chair.
• February 1- The department chair informs clinical associate professors of departmental recommendations to promote or not promote to rank of clinical professor.
• February 2- University Teaching Development Grant applications due to ATL. 
• February 15- Deadline for faculty to appeal negative departmental recommendations for promotion to clinical professor.
• February 15- Last day for departmental review meetings of third-year clinical assistant professor’s progress and performance.
• February 15- The provost will submit recommendations to the president regarding clinical associate professor and senior lecturer appointments.
• February 15- Last day for departmental review meetings for second- and fourth-year regular lecturers.
• February 15- Annual faculty performance reviews due to deans.
• February 15- Deadline for tenure evaluations of fourth-year tenure-track faculty.
• February 15- The president makes the final promotion to full professor decisions.

Spotlight on the Academy

The Louise Herrington School of Nursing

The Louise Herrington School of Nursing (LHSON) is proud to announce that we now have 23 funded Hord Challenge Scholarships. The LHSON looks forward to blessing future students with these University merit-based scholarships. We are grateful to the Baylor family and the Hord family for their support of future Baylor nursing students.

School of Education

• Dr. Sandi Cooper, professor in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction, was selected by the Texas Council for Teachers of Mathematics as the 2022 recipient of the E. Glenadine Gibb Achievement Award for contributions at the state and national levels.
• Dr. Phil Nichols, assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction, received the 2022 Early Career Achievement Award from the national Literacy Research Association.

School of Music

Baylor Concerto Competition
Please join the School of Music for the final round of its annual Baylor Concerto Competition in Jones Concert Hall and the Treasure Room inside the McCrary Music Building on January 21, from 10:00 a.m. to noon and 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. There will be eight finalists performing who were selected from among the talented Baylor music students who entered the contest. This event is free of charge and open to the public.
 
Baylor Church Music
Congratulation to Dr. Shannan Baker, postdoctoral fellow in church music and digital humanities, for receiving the Vital Worship Teacher-Scholar grant from the Calvin Institute for Christian Worship. With this grant, Dr. Baker will create a Contemporary Worship training program that will begin in January 2023 that is designed for Church Music students and other students interested in band-led worship.

University Libraries

Happy New Year from the Baylor Libraries! Visit baylor.edu/library/spring2023update for a brief message from Dean Jeffry Archer and a few library resource highlights.

Previous issues of the Provost's Newsletter can be accessed on the Office of the Provost website.