August 30, 2007

Dear Colleagues:

I want to welcome you to a new academic year and to thank you for all of last year's hard work. As a community of scholars we have much to celebrate and I have no doubt that your accomplishments in the year ahead will continue to lift this university. During last year the university was identified as one of the top places in America to pursue postdoctoral training by The Scientist; and headed the list of American universities with respect to technology licensing income ($585 million) by the Association of University Technology Managers. Business Week ranked the undergraduate business program in the top 4 in the USA . US News & World Report continues to rank Emory as one of America 's top 20 universities, and home to one of America 's leading hospitals. The university has an annual budget of over $3 billion, including a research budget of $345.7 million. And on the world stage, the Times Higher Education Supplement showed Emory's international ranking jumped from the top 150 to the elite 50s - all within the past few years.

Key aspects of our strategic plan are taking hold. So much of a university's reputation turns on the achievements of its faculty. Many of you honor us by the contributions you have made to your respective fields of endeavor. Here I highlight just a few of our colleagues for the extraordinary notice their work has garnered. Especially noteworthy is Natasha Trethewey's Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; Frans De Waal's commendation as a Time magazine person of interest; and Drew Weston's path breaking book, The Political Brain. Recognizing the achievement of our own is as important as recruiting highly accomplished colleagues, which we also did last year. I extend a special welcome to Dean Jan Love of the Candler School of Theology and Dean David Partlett of the School of Law, who joined us this past year. We are also fortunate to have appointed several other leading scholars to the university, including Professor Dennis Choi, who will oversee activities in the neurosciences across the university. He joins a growing list of Institute of Medicine members on the Emory faculty. And of course last year we added both noted novelist Salman Rushdie and His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the list of world figures committed to teaching our students. These achievements and others are highlighted in the "Great Scholars, Great Works" section of the Provost's Office website. (www.emory.edu/PROVOST/greatscholars/index.htm)

We are making significant strides on the student front as well. After a period of examination we launched a nation-leading financial aid program, Emory Advantage, providing no need-based loans for students whose parents earn less than $50,000 and capping loans for matriculating students whose families earn between $50,000 and $100,000, annually. To widen the net in our need-blind search for outstanding students, we have just entered a partnership with the non-profit organization - Questbridge. With its help we seek to identify high-potential students from low-income families and to provide them with the appropriate counseling and financial support to enroll at Emory University . As important, we have completed a reorganization of the student enrollment offices and the team has enrolled the most selective college freshman class in university history. This new group will follow in the footsteps of many incredible 2007 graduates. That class honored us with their achievements in the classrooms, debate halls and athletic fields. It is the combination of intellectual tenacity and generosity of heart that distinguishes them from most others. Emblematic are 2007 graduates Zach Manfredi and Robbie Brown. Zach became the latest Emory student to win a coveted Rhodes scholarship. While Emory's 2007 McMullen Award winner Robbie Brown set an example for all of us in donating his $20,000 award to fellow Emory grad Elizabeth Sholtys, founder of a home for street children in Pune, India .

As many of you know, last year was devoted to a detailed analysis of what will be needed to further insure the excellence of Emory's faculty. The resulting document, A Community of Excellence: Reflections and Directions from the Year of the Faculty, explores everything from recruitment and retention to faculty leaves and faculty development. Among the factors analyzed is a review of near-term demographic patterns. The data shows a major turnover of faculty at Emory (and nationally) over the next decade. Consequently, a high number of faculty hires are expected in the coming years, raising questions about the nature of such appointments, especially in an increasingly interdisciplinary environment. This "graying" of the professoriate will challenge Emory's infrastructure, requiring the university to replace retiring faculty at the same time that it recruits to expand. This will occur against a backdrop in which universities across the nation will be doing much the same with respect to their own recruitment and retention. At Emory alone, over 1,300 faculty members will become eligible for retirement by 2015. Copies of the document, which includes recommendations for action and essays by 15 faculty and two graduate students, should reach your mailboxes no later than mid-September. None of this would have been possible without the considerable contributions of the entire faculty. Thank you for your comments, suggestions, challenges, and willingness to participate in this communitywide exercise in charting our future. I especially want to thank my colleague, Claire Sterk, for playing a major role in this effort.

In this upcoming year, the Office of the Provost will work closely with the Deans to critically evaluate our promotion and tenure process. As a result of your suggestions last year all tenured associate professors who have been in rank eight years or longer can anticipate a comprehensive review. Although not everyone can expect immediate promotion as a result, all faculty can expect the kind of critical feedback we all desire as we continue to develop as scholars. In addition, we will act on a number of suggestions outlined in A Community of Excellence: Reflections and Directions from the Year of the Faculty, among them the creation of a new center for the promotion of faculty development.

Last year's conversations unearthed a visible need to nurture interdisciplinary dialogues. Toward that end we have launched the new Luminaries in Science and upcoming Luminaries in Arts and Humanities series. These series bring world-leading scholars to Emory University to both deliver lectures and to meet with students and faculty. Focusing on Emory's own scholars, the Office of the Provost and Faculty Council will partner to launch a new interdisciplinary forum in an initiative called, "Emory's Life of the Mind." A number of thematic events enhanced the intellectual debate on campus, including the series on "Inquiry, Conflict & Peace building in the Middle East ." We look forward to sustaining those conversations and to fostering others.

Finally, to help me plan and implement several new academic initiatives, I am pleased to welcome four new members of my team. The first member has been here for half a year. Ozzie Harris II, J.D. arrived in the spring to assume the new role of Senior Vice Provost for Community and Diversity. A lawyer by background, Ozzie ran Dartmouth 's diversity programs before joining this community. Dr. Lynn Zimmerman will join the office as Senior Vice Provost for Academic Programs. She is currently Vice Provost for Academic Initiatives at the University of Maryland , Baltimore County . She will help build relationships with secondary schools in the greater Atlanta metropolitan area and have oversight over the Center for Lifelong Learning. Dr. Zimmerman will also hold an academic appointment as Professor of Biology. Dr. Peter Sederberg will serve as Special Advisor to the Provost. He will work closely with the Division of Campus Life and the Office of Undergraduate Education in Emory College to ensure that curricular and co-curricular programs for freshmen and sophomores synergistically enhance the learning environment for our youngest students. He is Dean Emeritus of the Honors College at the University of South Carolina . And, Dr. Nadine Kaslow, a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences and a long-standing member of the Emory faculty, will serve as Special Assistant to the Provost, focusing on academic policies. These four new additions will join a strong and experienced team, I am confident that together we shall continue to forward the academic agenda of this great university.

It has been an honor and privilege to serve as your Provost for the past three years. Together let us continue to move Emory from strength to strength.

Sincerely,

Earl Lewis
Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs