Dear Academic Affairs colleagues,
As we near the end of the spring semester and continue our celebration of TCU’s 150th, I remind you of opportunities for fall and applaud those who have received tenure and promotion, Deans’ Awards nominees, and RRI Plume Awards.
Finding Ourselves in Community Applications Open
Our five-year goal is to embed Finding Ourselves in Community into courses across campus, covering every major, so that every TCU student develops skills to interact with people different from themselves. I encourage all faculty to consider participating in the fall 2023 workshops for embedding Finding Ourselves in Community into your course. These workshops, which have been revised and updated, take place each Friday afternoon for six weeks in fall 2023, to prepare you for teaching in spring 2024. Your participation is acknowledged with a stipend. The first cohort of 20 faculty members finished the workshops and will teach their classes beginning this summer. Here is what Dr. Cynthia Savage had to say:
“Redesigning syllabi to include FCS as a focus is particularly relevant for courses where there may be various points of view regarding topics and content, and where perspective-building and self-awareness within and among students are important. Participating in FSC professional development also affords the additional benefit of co-creating a sense of community from a student’s perspective as this is naturally developed by the cohort throughout FSC training. By experiencing this sense of community evolving first hand, I believe I am now better equipped to foster the development of a similar sense of community in my class that can strengthen the experience my students have overall,” – Cynthia Savage, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Professor of Professional Practice in the College of Education
Tenure and Promotion
It is my privilege to acknowledge and congratulate the faculty members who were approved for tenure and promotion by the Board of Trustees. I am constantly impressed with the commitment you show to TCU and our students, and all that you do to make TCU a renowned leader in academics.
Deans’ Awards Finalists
Each year, TCU deans face a daunting task: choosing 16 finalists for the Deans’ Award for Teaching and the Deans’ Award for Research and Creativity. The nomination is selective, with only one nominee from each college or school, and two from AddRan. Congratulations to the 2023 finalists, listed here. The six award winners will be announced May 5.
RRI Plume Awards
Congratulations to Theresa Gaul, professor of English and director of TCU’s Core Curriculum; Scott Langston, religion instructor and TCU’s liaison of Native American Nations and Communities; Chebon Kernell (Seminole), executive director of the Native American comprehensive plan with the United Methodist Church; and the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes. They were honored with the 2023 Race and Reconciliation Plume Award for their work in establishing and sustaining TCU’s Native American and Indigenous Peoples Initiative.
Best regards,
Teresa Abi-Nader Dahlberg
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs