Week in Review
February 22, 2014
Hi everyone,
This upcoming week sees the visit of our SACS on-site review team, and the culmination of two years' of work. I will be out of the office most of the week, and will be at the Curris Center with the team. On a personal note, I am also nearing my dissertation defense date (either April 3 or 4), and will be taking a few days off in early March to complete my dissertation. Apologies in advance if, between the SACS visit and my dissertation time, I don't respond to emails as quickly as I normally am able. Thank you for your patience as I wrap up two very large initiatives this spring.
On the topic of large initiatives, let me again thank everyone for your work during Book Bonanza. It went off really well, and we have been getting positive feedback from the schools and from the other offices on campus who collaborated. President Miller was very pleased with the event, and offers his thanks to us for hosting it.
Aside from completing last details for the SACS visit, the last couple of weeks have been taken up with a number of other efforts. I have been writing faculty performance evaluations this past week, after reviewing their activities for the year and the comments provided in the first level of review. One new item included in the performance evaluation process this year is a formal opportunity for Deans and Department Chairs to provide feedback on the liaising work completed by the Research & Instruction Librarians. The rationale for this is based once again on our commitment to service, and ensuring that the relationships we nurture with the other academic units on campus are as positive as possible.
This time of year is also the time for the University's Promotion and Leave Committee, which will be evaluating applications for promotion to Associate Professor or Professor. In between SACS team meetings I will be visiting the Provost's Office to review applications.
We have made good progress on renovation planning for upstairs. The furniture vendor has made two trips so far to get an idea of what we would like to accomplish upstairs, and is getting close to having a proposal to us. Thanks to the Tech Services folks for pushing along on the shelf calculations. so that we can order the correct number of new bookshelves for the third floor.
Finally, the R&I Librarians have developed a rationale and syllabi for a new minor degree program in Information Studies. This would expand our course offerings beyond the current LOR 101, and would be a very positive manner for the University Libraries to contribute to overall student learning outcomes and enrollment. Many thanks to everyone involved with developing and vetting the minor, which will be reviewed by Undergraduate Studies and Academic Council in the next few weeks.
Have a great week everyone, and I'll see you on Friday at the Reflective Practice workshop.
Adam