Provost's Report: September 2005

Dear Colleagues:

During the September 12th University Faculty Meeting, I reflected that I assumed the responsibilities of the provost approximately 321 days ago. Thanks to the collaboration and partnership of the faculty and administration, a great deal has been accomplished. There is still quite a bit more to do, but with the momentum of the first 321 days supporting us, there is no doubt that we will accomplish the many tasks at hand.

What a great way to start the 2005-2006 academic year! As you already know, the University gained 5 points in the US News and World Report "America's Best Colleges" rankings. Lehigh is now ranked 32nd. Among the top 50 ranked national universities, Lehigh is ranked 26th among the private schools and, of the 16 public schools, only 6 are ahead of Lehigh (University of California at Berkeley, University of Virginia, UCLA, University of Michigan, University of North Carolina, and William and Mary). Some of you may have seen me walking around the campus wearing a Lehigh #29 football jersey because I would like us to be in the top 30.

I would like to provide you with a short status report for each of the three major priorities I have defined for Academic Affairs. Just as a reminder those priorities are:

• Developing the best environment conducive to successful careers at Lehigh for faculty and staff, from hiring to retirement and beyond,
• Articulating the intellectual signatures of Lehigh through scholarly work of the faculty and distinctive programs,
• Creatively enhancing the total learning experience for Lehigh students - both undergraduate and graduate.

I would also like to take this opportunity to publicly thank the two deputy provosts, Jean Soderlund and Carl Moses, as well as the four academic deans, Tom Hyclak, Anne Meltzer, Sally White and David Wu, for their dedication and hard work. All that has been accomplished within this short period of time could not have been done without their participation and leadership.

Developing the Best Environment

• Out of the 25 open faculty searches from last year, Lehigh has 16 new faculty starting this academic year. Ten faculty started in August 2005; one will start in October 2005; four will start in spring 2006; and one will start in August 2006. Ten are in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS); four are in the College of Business and Economics (CBE); one is in the College of Education (CoEd); and one is in the P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science (RCEAS). Of the 16 faculty, ten are men and six are women. All faculty who started in August 2005 were introduced at the September 12th Faculty Meeting and each provided a short statement about their background. All new faculty biographies and photos can be found here.
  
  I anticipate that Lehigh will conduct approximately 20 open faculty searches this academic year. Included in this total number are nine open slots that were rolled over from last year. The breakdown of open slots by college is nine in the CAS, five in the CBE, one to three in the CoEd, and three in the RCEAS.


• The Tenure and Promotion Subcommittee of the Faculty Personnel Committee, under the leadership of Tom Hyclak and Jeff Sands, completed its work during 2004-2005, with the faculty approving the new policy in May 2005 and the Academic Affairs Committee of the Board of Trustees subsequently approving it in June 2005. The policy will be sent for full Board approval in October 2005. The effective date for the new policy is spring of 2006. I would like to offer my special thanks to the faculty who served on this subcommittee. Each member dedicated a great deal of time to this effort and, as a result, we now have a much improved policy.


• Mike Kolchin, chair of the new Faculty Governance Subcommittee, provided an update during the September 12th Faculty Meeting. I would encourage you to visit the Faculty Governance Blackboard site to obtain the recent information regarding this activity. Once again, this is another group of dedicated faculty who deserve our thanks and appreciation for all the time they have given to this project.


• Issues relating to increasing diversity on Lehigh's campus are being examined on many different levels by a cross-section of faculty, staff, and students. Jean Soderlund, the deputy provost for faculty affairs, is providing the leadership to coordinate current activities and develop new plans in collaboration with all interested groups.


• The University Faculty Mentoring Committee, chaired by Pam Pepper with the support of Greg Reihman and all the faculty mentors, is doing a fabulous job of providing untenured faculty with a network of support and information. I would encourage you to visit the committee's web site.


• A clear message about the university's expectations of assistant professors is a critical step in the mentoring process. This year, as part of the reappointment process, I have sent each faculty member an in-depth analysis of their portfolio which includes a clear message of what Lehigh's expectations are in order to obtain tenure and be promoted.

Articulating the intellectual signatures

• During 2004-2005, the Deans of CAS, CBE, and RCEAS have been heavily involved in academic planning with their faculty. CoEd crafted their academic plan three years ago and they are currently implementing it. During the spring and summer, the deans shared the status of their planning with me and with each other. This open dialog ensured that the colleges' plans were not created in silos, but were the result of collaboration and help to identify areas of synergy between the colleges.
  
  The focus of the President's Leadership Retreat on August 23rd and 24th, was academic planning. The morning session included presentations by the Deans followed by a free exchange of ideas regarding the plans. The format of the afternoon was breakout sessions under the theme of "Achieving Our Academic Goals and Living Our Values via Collaboration and Synergy." The three topics were: Collaboration and Synergy between Academics and Student Life; Collaboration and Synergy for Attracting the Best Students; and Major Technology and Facilities Needs for Lehigh.
  
  The next steps are: (a) The deans will continue engaging their faculty as well as advisory groups and the other colleges to fine-tune their plans. The three colleges will complete their plans by the end of the fall semester; (b) The Council of Deans is drafting three university-wide documents that will be discussed by the faculty and finally adopted. They are: Educational Values and Beliefs; Overarching Academic Goals (undergraduate learning, research and graduate studies, and faculty) and Lehigh's Intellectual Signatures (e.g., research signatures, International Lehigh, creativity).


• A task force with membership from both the faculty and staff met this summer under the leadership of Roger Nagel to create goals as well as a road map for International Lehigh. Their report, entitled "International Lehigh and Global Relations" (ILGR), was quite comprehensive and included goals for organization, undergraduate/graduate students, faculty, staff, alumni, and parents. The work of this task force is an illustration of our approach to identifying and developing activities that support our intellectual signatures. The report is available on the Provost's web site.
  
  The next steps include: (a) appointing a senior faculty member who will coordinate the development of an implementation plan; (b) establishing a faculty steering committee that will be responsible for setting expectations for students and advising the ILGR initiative; and (c) developing a university-wide advisory council for sharing information and resources and establishing the overall vision. A Mellon Officer Grant has already been secured to assist with these next steps.

Creatively enhancing the total learning experience for Lehigh students

• ArtsLehigh has been launched. This was possible through the efforts of Norman Girardot and Silagh White, who assumed the role of Director in May of 2005. Before joining Lehigh, Silagh was the director of Muse Machine for the performing arts council of Toledo Ohio. She brings to Lehigh a rich and diverse background in the arts, as a performer, an administrator, and a community volunteer.


• The First-Year Experience and Beyond Task Force, with faculty from the four colleges and staff from Student Affairs, has completed its report under the leadership of Dean Sally White. The task force developed a mission statement for this initiative: to define creative and innovative learning opportunities that will complement and enhance classroom experiences and provide students with a fully integrated education throughout their career at Lehigh. The goal is to instill within every student a sense of intellectual curiosity and passion for life-long learning, the knowledge and skills to excel both as professionals and as citizens-of-the-world, and have the tools needed to become engaged members of their families, communities, and society. I expect first-year programming to become one of Lehigh's signatures. The report is available on the Provost's web site.
  
  The next step is the creation of a second task force that will translate the initiatives in this report into a clear list of deliverables and submit a full proposal to the Mellon Foundation. The membership of this second task force will include representation from the Educational Policy Committee.


• The Creativity Task Force, with faculty from the four colleges under the leadership of Anne Meltzer, has completed its report, which includes recommendations for four broad categories: faculty engagement, student engagement, space and facilities, and management and development. One of the many recommendations that caught my attention is that the first-year experience for all three of the colleges could include more open-ended problem solving pieces and other challenging and creativity enhancing activities in both introductory and intermediate courses. The report is available on the Provost's web site.
  
  The next step will be the establishment of a second task force which will translate the initiatives in this report into a clear list of deliverables, explore resource implications, and run a few pilot programs during 2005-2006. The long-term goal is for creativity to become one of Lehigh's signatures.

In conclusion, the CBE Dean Search is moving forward. An advertisement was posted this summer and nominations are being received by the Search Committee. The committee is on schedule to complete a final report by December 2005. Greg Farrington and I are holding January 2006 to handle the final stages of the search, targeting July 1, 2006, to have a new dean in place. I would like to ask that you join me in thanking Tom Hyclak for agreeing to be the Interim Dean this year. He is doing a wonderful job, both for the college and for the university at-large.

I look forward to a productive academic year and welcome your continued suggestions and feedback.

Best Regards,

Mohamed El-Aasser