Dean Allewell's Highlights, Spring 2008
As always, the midpoint of the Spring semester finds the College in a high energy state, with important initiatives on many fronts.
Grooming Graduate Programs for Excellence
Enhancing the quality of our graduate programs and the graduate students’ experience has been a primary focus this year. Our Blue Ribbon Faculty Committee has developed possible models for reorganizing the graduate programs to raise their level of excellence to those of peer institutions and to improve the graduate student experience. The committee delivered its report to me and presented it to the faculty this month. The faculty will meet again this week to discuss the models and reach a consensus on which model(s) to develop in greater detail. This has been a very constructive process, and I want to thank the faculty for their commitment to working together for the common good.
Cultivating the College's Communications Program
Editing and redesigning the College web site has been a second major focus. Although our web site has undergone two redesigns in the past eight years, it is clear that new approaches towards keeping it current and developing a uniform “look and feel” that is consistent with the University’s site are needed. While the University has been redesigning its site, Kelly Blake, Director of Communications, has been leading efforts in the Dean’s office and departments to update the College’s site more and make it more user friendly. Her efforts are bearing fruit, and we should be well into the redesign by the end of the semester. She welcomes input on areas that need attention.
Undergraduate admissions to the College have been increasing by more than 5%/year for the past several years, and this year is no exception. We are in the midst of a concerted effort by faculty, staff, and students to encourage the large numbers of outstanding students who have been admitted to enroll at Maryland.
A number of faculty searches are underway. Searches in Chemistry and Biochemistry have already resulted in the recruitment of Dr. Kwaku Dayie, an NMR spectroscopist who studies RNA dynamics, and Dr. Yu-Huang Wang, a nanoscientist who focuses on developing novel double-walled nanotubes, to the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Biology is completing two searches, in evolutionary biology and ecology. Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics is completing a search for a Chair.
As a result of the intensive faculty recruitment we have been engaged in for several years, an exceptionally large number of faculty members came up for promotion this year--the second largest number on campus. The departments and College APT committee have done an outstanding job of shepherding these cases through the process, and I look forward to announcing promotions of a number of outstanding faculty members soon.
Raising Funds, Reaching Out to Alums
Fund-raising efforts have also been in full swing. Led by Andrea Morris, Assistant Dean for Development, the College has developed a strong outreach program to alums, with programs in places as far-flung as New York and Puerto Rico. As a result of her efforts, gifts to date are 125% of this year’s target. Most excitingly, an anonymous alum has made a seven figure pledge for the Nathan Drake Endowment in Chemistry and Biochemistry. Andrea has recently been joined by Steve Silipigni, Associate Director for Development and Alumni Relations, and we look forward to doubling our efforts.
Other sections of the newsletter highlight many accomplishments by faculty, staff, and students. These include major new grants to recently recruited faculty, who are to be congratulated on their success in this period of unprecedented competition for shrinking federal appropriations for research.
Bringing Math to Biology Undergraduates
Another award deserves special mention—a grant from NSF that will enable us to expand our ongoing efforts to enhance our undergraduates’ exposure to the mathematics that is required to practice 21st century biology. Many people have been involved in this effort; among them, Bill Fagan, the PI for the grant, Karen Nelson, post-doctoral researcher in Entomology, and Kaci Thompson, director of our HHMI undergraduate program, deserve special credit.
My best wishes to all for a safe and restorative Spring break.
Norma Allewell, Professor and Dean
College of Chemical and Life Sciences