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15th Edition Faculty Affairs Spotlight

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Happening in Faculty Affairs

SB17 Guidance: On Sept. 7, Interim President Mark A. Welsh III sent a message detailing The Texas A&M University System’s guidance on implementing Senate Bill 17 (S.B.17) with a link to frequently asked questions. As educators and researchers, he challenged us to cultivate a welcoming environment, live our core values and to emphasize diversity of thought and perspectives to benefit our students, state and world.

It's important to note that S.B.17 and System Policy 08.01 will not impact:

  • Academic course instruction.
  • Any scholarly research or creative work.
  • Policies, practices, procedures, programs or activities to enhance student academic achievement or post-graduate outcomes without regard to race, sex, color or ethnicity.
  • Data collection.
  • Student recruitment or admissions.

Academic Task Force: Upon recommendation of the Task Force on Academic Freedom and Faculty Protection, Interim President Welsh directed that all faculty-related issues, complaints and grievances be routed through Faculty Affairs. If you believe you have cause for a complaint or grievance, please utilize this form to submit a complaint about Texas A&M faculty or administrators. Faculty Affairs will contact the appropriate unit(s) for possible mediation.

Quick-Look Assessment Update: In early August, Interim President Welsh tasked a small team with assessing last year’s major Path Forward changes. That team has conducted more than 100 listening sessions with key stakeholders to gather feedback on successes and continuing challenges. This week, the interim president plans to release the assessment team’s final report for review and comment from the university community. You will have one week to review the report and provide your feedback. Final decisions will be shared at an all-faculty, staff and student meeting the morning of Oct. 4. Look for the report and additional details on the meeting from the interim president later this week.

Interfolio F180 Office Hours: In preparation for the next evaluation period, Faculty Affairs’ office hours for Interfolio F180 and Review Post-Tenure will be held starting on Wednesday, Sept. 27 from 10-10:30 a.m. on Zoom, with additional sessions offered every other Wednesday. Registration is required. Registrants will receive an email confirmation and Zoom link.

Faculty Development and Funding Opportunities

Faculty Affairs provides ongoing professional development opportunities for faculty at every career stage. Faculty are encouraged to regularly seek new ways to enhance and advance their careers at Texas A&M.

Nominations for the Andrew Carnegie Fellows Program will open soon. Generous stipends in support of humanities and social sciences research are available for projects focused on this year's topic, the political polarization in the United States.

Applications for John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation fellowships are due Sept. 21. Mid-career faculty pursuing advanced scholarship in any field of knowledge and/or exceptional creativity in any art form are eligible.

Texas A&M Innovation supports inventors in commercializing innovations across the Texas A&M System. Join their mailing list and access the August newsletter to learn about new ventures, events, resources, partnerships and patents.

The Texas A&M Semiconductor Institute’s Research and Development Program is seeking facilities and program enhancement proposals to strengthen and enrich semiconductor research and development and learning experiences for Texas A&M students. Proposal submissions are due Sept. 29.

Faculty development leave applications are due to Faculty Affairs Oct. 4. Consult your school/college representative for initial questions. Contact Faculty Affairs Awards Programs for additional clarification.

The National Humanities Center (NHC) is accepting applications for its 2024-25 fellowships, with a deadline of Oct. 5. The NHC welcomes up to 40 international residential scholars annually.

The Fulbright Scholar Program application cycle opens in February, but there are other programs you may apply for now. Contact Traci Lacy to learn how you can participate in the Fulbright experience.

Want to sharpen your skills? Texas A&M University Libraries offers a variety of workshops to enhance your skills. Discover how to manage research data, edit a video presentation with Camtasia and more!

Texas A&M encourages faculty to elevate the impact of their work by joining colleagues in publishing articles in The Conversation.

Faculty Focus

Dr. Daniel Conway (Department of Philosophy, College of Arts and Sciences) has been appointed to a three-year term (2023-26) as a Fulbright Specialist. Prior to his appointment as a Fulbright Specialist, Conway received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award for research in Australia (2022-23).

Dr. Robert S. Chapkin (Department of Nutrition, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences) was awarded the Mary Swartz Rose Senior Investigator Award by the American Society for Nutrition.

Dr. Ben Montemayor (Department of Health Behavior, School of Public Health) was awarded a research fellowship from the Fordham University HIV and Drug Abuse Prevention Research Ethics Training Institute.

Dr. Jianbang Gan (Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences) was appointed to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forestry Research Advisory Council.

Amplifying External Awards Program Recipients -

National Institutes of Health Maximizing Investigators' Research Award Early-Stage Investigator Award and Pathways Award recipients from the College of Arts and Sciences:

Campus News

Searches for the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and the vice chancellor for engineering and dean of the College of Engineering are ongoing. Visit Executive Searches for more information.

September is Suicide Awareness and Prevention Month. University Health Services is hosting several events and programs to raise awareness, reduce stigma and increase interpersonal connections and support on the Bryan-College Station campus and online. Learn more about these programs.

Texas A&M Health has partnered with H-E-B to provide influenza (flu) vaccines at no cost to Texas A&M University System employees, their eligible dependents and retirees covered under the A&M Care Plan with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas. Other private insurance holders are eligible to receive their vaccine during these clinics as well. For those without health care benefits, the flu vaccine is available at a discounted rate. The schedule and locations are now available online, and appointments are encouraged but not required.

To help our faculty, staff and students better manage the flow of information, non-administrative campuswide email communications are supported via opt-lists. All faculty, staff and students may opt-in to the list(s) of their preference to receive a once daily digest email regarding research participation opportunities, special events and more. To update your preferences, visit the email settings portal at gateway.tamu.edu.

Texas A&M University is transitioning to Adobe Sign this fall as the enterprise solution to reduce cost and simplify the digital signing process for our faculty, staff and students universitywide. Effective Nov. 1, DocuSign will no longer be available or accessible. The Technology Services project team is actively supporting existing DocuSign account holders with migrating, and backing up, their existing files and workflows to the new AdobeSign platform. Instructions for completing the steps to download your DocuSign files are available online. However, if you need assistance, please contact the project team at adobe@tamu.edu.

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Originally Released Tuesday, September 19th, 2023