Greetings from the Office of the Provost! As we approach the Thanksgiving break, we wanted to express our deepest gratitude for all of your efforts to support our students through the transition back to in-person activities. Our students are thrilled to be engaging with and learning from one another. To celebrate our collective efforts and to build camaraderie, the President’s Office and the Provost’s Office will be hosting a TGIF on Thursday, November 18 from 3:00 - 4:30 pm on the Ignatian Lawn. All are welcome!
We also wanted to take this opportunity to provide you with some updates and good news from the Provost’s area.
Warmly,
Kate Morris and Ed Ryan
Acting Provosts
Student Fellowship Successes
The Office of Student Fellowships has supported many applicants this fall, including 21 Fulbright, 4 Rhodes, 4 Marshall, 8 Knight-Hennessy, 2 Gates-Cambridge, 2 Soros, and 1 NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program applicants. While we are waiting on most results, the Office of Fellowships already has one piece of very good news. Santa Clara has a Marshall Scholarship finalist: Betty Hou, (Computer Science and Engineering) who plans to attend Oxford to study the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence. The Marshall Scholarship is a highly competitive, merit-based award for graduate study in any discipline at any British university. Each year, over a thousand applicants are endorsed by their undergraduate institutions for the award, and fewer than 10% of applicants are named as finalists. Ultimately, up to 50 applicants will receive the award. Finalists were selected based on their records of academic merit, leadership potential, and ambassadorial potential. SCU has never had a student advance this far in this highly prestigious competition. Congratulations on this significant achievement, Betty! Thanks also to Dr. Naomi Levy for her stellar leadership of the OSF, and to the many faculty and staff who contribute their time and expertise to support student efforts in this area.
Bronco Venture Accelerator
In Summer 2021, the Bronco Venture Accelerator (BVA) accepted twenty-one promising startup companies founded by Santa Clara alumni, faculty, staff, and students into its third annual cohort. Formed by Santa Clara University and its Ciocca Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the BVA combines the hands-on learning and growth for founders that traditional accelerators offer with the resources and network of the Santa Clara community. To date, almost fifty companies have graduated from the BVA and raised over $40 million in venture financing. In BVA 3, companies received four months of business assistance and mentorship focused on refining business models, working with customers, building partnerships, and pitching investment opportunities. BVA 3 culminated in an online Demo Day on October 14 during which founders presented to over 200 investors. The following week, the founders and BVA staff met in person for the first time to celebrate the founders' accomplishments at a graduation ceremony in the Mission Gardens. Congratulations to Morgan Slain and Chris Norris for their exceptional work on this project.
Common Reading Updates: Just Mercy
Programming related to SCU’s Common Reading for 2021-22 -- Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption -- continues. In October, a panel discussion with distinguished alumnae Blye Faust and Malarie Howard and Communication department faculty accompanied a screening of the film Just Mercy. Also in October, the Friday Speaker Series “Advocacy for Change” included a talk by the Equal Justice Initiative’s Senior Staff Attorney, Charlotte Morrison. Stay tuned to the Provost's Website for Common Reading for announcements of co-curricular programming planned for Winter and Spring quarters.
Non-Tenure-Track Faculty Policy Updates
Over the past few months, several improvements have been made through shared governance and amendments to University processes in support of non-tenure-track faculty.
Faculty Handbook Changes
Non-tenure-track faculty appointed to serve on the initial search committee for a tenure-track line now have full rights to join their tenure-track colleagues in making recommendations to advance candidates through the process. In addition, the majority of members elected to school Promotion to Senior Lecturer Committees will now be Senior Lecturers.
Faculty Salaries
In response to a proposal from the Subcommittee on Lecturers and Adjuncts (SUBFAC), the Faculty Affairs Committee recommended that non-tenure-track faculty be incorporated into the salary planning process, so that renewable-term and senior lecturers’ average salaries are better synchronized with market adjustments to tenure-track lines. This year’s faculty salary budget proposal to FAC and the UBC reflects this commitment. For fixed-term faculty, salary planning is focusing on a transparent salary scale and an improved per-course rate, which will be published in the second draft of the SUBFAC Teaching Professor Track proposal.
Orientation for Quarterly Adjunct Faculty
Faculty Development has long run an annual new faculty orientation for academic year faculty members and has had occasional information sessions for QSALs. This year we initiated a regular quarterly information session for quarter and semester adjunct faculty. This event will be held during the first week or two of every quarter, for new and long-time faculty. Faculty Development’s Camino site for new faculty of all appointment types includes an info guide for all faculty and a special guide for lecturers and senior lecturers.
Welcome our new Assistant Provost for Strategic Initiatives
We are pleased to announce that Melissa McAlexander will be joining Santa Clara to serve as the Assistant Provost for Strategic Initiatives. With a background in Molecular and Cellular Biology, Melissa has served as Professor of Biology at Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU) since 2007. More recently, Melissa has taken on increasing levels of administrative responsibility at NDNU serving as Chair, Interim Dean, Assistant Provost for Faculty Affairs, and Special Assistant to the President. During her tenure at NDNU, Melissa worked tirelessly to promote diversity and inclusion by securing a Title V HSI grant to support student success and serving as a facilitator for ESCALA, a consortium of higher education consultants who are committed to increasing the retention and graduation rates of underrepresented students in higher education.
Weekly Drop-In Visits: The Provost's Office hosts weekly office hours so that individuals can raise questions or issues. Office hours take place each Thursday from 3:00 - 4:00 p.m. in the Provost’s suite in the Walsh Administration building. Drop in hours will resume December 2nd after the Thanksgiving break.