Updates From the Dean - Issue 29

I hope everyone had an enjoyable and relaxing Labor Day weekend. There are several updates that I have for you on a few pending changes and initiatives being developed in COSM.

• Associate Dean of Research Brent Feske has accepted the position of Interim Associate Vice President of Research in the Office of Research. CONGRATULATIONS BRENT!! This is a one-year appointment but has the potential to become permanent. Brent started in the new role this week. We are launching an internal search for two administrative fellows to cover Brent’s workload for the remainder of this year. More on this later.

• Melissa Adams has accepted the position of Director of Research Operations in the Office of Research. CONGRATULATIONS MELISSA!! She will start in the new position on September 10. We are working to launch an external search for a replacement, hopefully with an expedited timeline. Internal applicants are encouraged.

• A vacant staff position in Biology has been reclassified and will become the first position in a newly created COSM Administrative Pool. The administrative pool is part of a new initiative to address some of the issues in COSM as it relates to uneven distribution of administrative staff and adjustments from last year’s department consolidations.

• COSM has launched, or will be launching soon, seven faculty searches for the 2024-2025 academic year with expected start dates of Fall, 2025. These searches are:

• Assistant Professor in Molecular Biology

• Assistant Professor in Material Science

• Assistant Professor in Mathematics

• Lecturer in Mathematics (2 positions)

• Director for new Center for Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases

• Chair for the School of Earth, Environment, and Sustainability

COSM will soon launch a call for internal applicants for two positions.

• Director of the bachelor’s degree program in Biomedical Sciences. This program should be approved at an upcoming Board of Regents meeting. Once approved, we begin the search process.

• Director for the Institute of Coastal Plains Science. With Danny Gleason’s upcoming retirement, we have decided to split the leadership of the Institute for Coastal Plains Science and the School of Earth, Environment, and Sustainability.

• The Emerging Researchers Program is launching this fall from the Office of Undergraduate Research. This program is being developed in collaboration with the Office of Financial Aid to use work study funding to support students' pursuit of undergraduate research experiences. Please consider signing up to mentor one of these students. Details have been emailed to faculty about how to submit your positions for consideration by the students. Students will be contacted soon to begin applying for one of the 25 positions. COSM has over 600 work study approved students pursuing one of our majors

• A working group has been established to develop mechanisms for recognizing excellence and innovation in teaching. The committee will begin meeting this month charged with developing strategies to better celebrate and recognize the outstanding work of our faculty in the classroom.

• The search for the inaugural director for the Center for Biomedical Research and Innovation is ongoing. We have reopened the search to get additional applications after interviewing three outstanding candidates this summer. This has been a complicated search process where we attempted to hire two of the interviewed candidates. One is still being pursued for a different position.

Sincerely,

Mike