At the end of June, I will have completed four years out of my five-year appointment term as dean of the School of Education. In order to review my performance in this role for feedback and possible reappointment, Provost Teresa Sullivan has contacted members of the SOE community to solicit your views on the state of the school and my performance as dean. I hope that you will participate in this important process.
Provost Sullivan has asked that you begin by providing her with some context for evaluating my leadership as dean. Specifically, she would like you to consider the following questions:
• What, in your view, are the most important changes, successes, and failures in the school over the past several years?
• What are the challenges and opportunities that will face the school over the next five years or so?
• What criteria would you employ to evaluate the past performance and future promise of Deborah Ball as dean of the School of Education?
Provost Sullivan also would like to learn about your assessment of my performance as dean and your candid recommendation regarding reappointment.
Your feedback will be offered to me in summary form and in a way that will ensure respondents’ anonymity. You can respond directly to Provost Sullivan by email or phone at 734-764-9292. You can also mail your feedback to:
Teresa A. Sullivan
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
University of Michigan
3074 Fleming Administration Building
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1340
I encourage you to participate in this important process so that I can receive useful and constructive feedback. In order to be considered in my review process, your comments need to be received by the provost no later than Monday, June 15.
I am pleased to announce that Elena Godina will assume the role of acting webmaster for our school beginning Monday, June 1.
Elena, who joined the school in 2006 as a graphic artist and who has taught visual design at the School of Information, has expertise in numerous web-related languages and applications, social media and other Web 2.0 tools, and in informational architecture.
As we launch a strategic redesign of the functionality of our school’s website to serve our goals, Elena’s knowledge and insights will be particularly valuable as we consider new possibilities for facilitating our work and communicating with interested audiences on the internet.
I would like to express my deep appreciation to Mike Gould, who, at my request, stepped in to serve as interim webmaster when Chris Meyers vacated the position last summer. Mike has kept the website running since last September and we very much appreciate his service. He’ll continue his work at the school as a member of the Technical Services Department and as the school photographer. Please join me in thanking Mike for his dedicated service!
In the coming month, all SOE staff and their supervisors will be completing the important performance planning and assessment process.
This annual review provides staff members and their supervisor the opportunity to reflect on the year’s progress as well as plan together for the future. It allows for concerns to be addressed, praises to be given, and offers the opportunity for clarity in the work expected. This conversation and ongoing communication between staff members and their supervisors can prevent misunderstandings about expectations. I hope that you will use this opportunity to think seriously about the needs of your department and the school and how they align with the work of each member of your team.
If you have any questions about the process or would like assistance, please email Lori Helvey.
Dr. WenDong Ren is a visiting scholar in the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education. In addition to his role as dean of the
School of Art & Design at Dalian Polytechnic University in China, he is an accomplished artist. His work will be on display in an
upcoming exhibition at the University of Michigan’s Institute for the Humanities Gallery, June 12—22, 2009.
An opening reception hosted by the School of Art & Design will be held June 12, 4:30—6:00 p.m. All are welcome to attend.
Bridget Dever will defend her dissertation, Intersections of Education and Resilience: How Contexts Operate in the Protection of At-Risk Adolescents, on Tuesday, June 2, 2009 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. in the Brownlee Room (2327). An information reception will follow the defense in Room 1413 (CPEP).
A routine, twice-a-year audit of UMICH Kerberos password strength by Information Technology Central Services (ITCS) and IT Security Services was recently conducted. These audits are necessary because weak passwords put your personal electronic information, as well as the university’s networks and data, at risk. Anyone found to have a weak, easily crackable password was contacted by an email from the ITCS Accounts Office on Tuesday, May 26, 2009.
If you were contacted, you must change your password to something more secure by June 9, 2009. If you do not, ITCS will disable your uniqname and password. Should that happen, you would need to phone the ITCS Accounts Office to get your password reset and your uniqname and password re-enabled.
TIPS FOR CHOOSING YOUR NEW PASSWORD
– Use at least nine characters.
– Include a mix of upper- and lower-case letters, numbers, and common punctuation.
– Do NOT use words out of the dictionary.
– Do NOT use personal information, such as your phone number or address.
Doctoral student Ozan Jaquette has received a $20,000 grant from the Association for Institutional Research for his dissertation, The Relationship between Financial Strain and the Production of Postgraduate Degrees, 1970-2006. He is examining the relationship between financial strain and postgraduate degree production in postsecondary education institutions.
SOE faculty members say “Everyone who wants to go to college, should go to college.”
Of course, it’s not that simple. There are barriers to getting access to higher education and, for those that overcome those hurdles, they find that there are obstacles on the path to graduation–not everyone achieves success in higher education, evidenced by statistics showing that fewer than 60% of students complete a degree program.
The Spring 2009 issue of Innovator, the School of Education magazine, features the article Participating in the Promise of Higher Education, in which SOE faculty members discuss benefits, problems, and concerns about higher education–and what they are doing to improve students’ access to and success in higher education.
