[Plsfaculty] SPLS: Faculty-staff meetings and faculty discussions

[Arnold, Betsy - (fungi)]

Dear colleagues,

I hope that as our spring semester moves into its first full month, you all are doing well in your instructional, research, and Extension endeavors. I appreciate the ways that everyone is contributing to moving forward: keeping calm, delivering excellence, and working collegially will advance our unit and our impacts, as well as our individual programs that contribute so much.

As we look ahead to the coming months, we have several opportunities before us. I would like to invite all of us to come together as colleagues for the following, designed in part to hear and welcome faculty perspectives, while also keeping everyone up to date on matters relevant to the unit.

Please see scheduling details and more information below.

Warm regards,
Betsy


  1.
SPLS faculty-staff meetings: Our faculty-staff meeting dates for spring term will be 11am-12:15pm, Feb. 28, March 28, and April 25. We will meet in Saguaro Hall 219, also with an online option (https://arizona.zoom.us/s/4619575532).

Agendas will be shared before each meeting. Members of our business office and staff are invited to these meetings alongside faculty. As always, slides will be posted after each meeting to our Box (SPLS Faculty and Staff Resources).


  2.
Faculty discussions: To complement and extend the degree of discussion that can fit within our faculty-staff meetings, I warmly invite all faculty to a series of optional faculty discussions. These will be held at 11am-12:15pm, Feb. 14, March 21, and April 11, in Saguaro Hall 219 and with an online option (https://arizona.zoom.us/s/4619575532).

Each faculty discussion will be facilitated by a faculty member and will center on a core topic. As it is understood that not everyone can attend, these faculty discussions will be complemented by a short, anonymous survey so that all have a chance to contribute their perspectives. The purpose of these discussions is to hear feedback on certain topics that can help us chart ways forward as a unit: they are not binding in terms of votes for policy, but are to serve as a forum for input. Surveys will be handled by the faculty member coordinating the discussion and will be treated anonymously. Please stay tuned for an announcement regarding the Feb. 14 faculty discussion and related survey, which will center on information from the Dean's Research Advisory Committee (DRAC) and will be led by our DRAC representative, Alex Bucksch.


  3.
Graduate program and core major/course delivery: Over the coming weeks please also anticipate that we will hear from our Director of Graduate Studies, Mark, and our Chair of the PLS Curriculum Committee, Ravi: our Graduate Student Program Committee and PLS Curriculum Committee have been charged to reflect on our course delivery, curriculum structure, and future. Mark and Ravi each have suggested to hold a working retreat for faculty and will pair those with surveys as above. Our leadership in the other majors we serve is moving forward and we can expect updates through the term on those important programs as well.


  4.
Assistant Professor of Practice faculty search: I would like to take a moment to thank Samantha, Mark, and Shelley (as well as our outside-of-unit representative, Dr. Ellen Bledsoe in SNRE) for their ongoing work in this search. The third of three interviews for this university-funded position will be on Monday, Feb. 10, and we will see an announcement soon for the online teaching presentation to be held that day. Thank you to all who have attended the remote teaching presentations for our first two candidates, and to those who have met with them and helped connect them with the energy, potential, and future of SPLS. If you have attended the teaching presentations online, and/or have met with the candidates, please be sure to respond to the survey request.


More broadly, thank you again for all you are doing. It was wonderful to catch up with many at our recent seminar and through our ongoing meetings and interactions, and I continue to appreciate the outstanding contributions of our faculty as a whole. Thank you also for continuing to work so collegially and positively with our Business Office — our team there continues to advance in addressing our needs and I am grateful to you, and to them, for this shared investment of goodwill and communication.





[The University of Arizona block 'A' logo.]
A. Elizabeth Arnold, PhD

Interim Director and Professor, School of Plant Sciences

Curator, Gilbertson Mycological Herbarium

Chair and Director of Graduate Studies,

Ecosystem Genomics GIDP

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

fungi at arizona.edu

www.arnoldlab.net<http://www.arnoldlab.net> | www.gilbertsonherbarium.net<http://www.gilbertsonherbarium.net>


To schedule a meeting, please use https://calendly.com/fungi-arizona


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